Adventures of an Uchiha
by CagedHeart
Summary: She gave him the idea to leave his hell of a life. An idea that he just had to pull off. And he did. He faked his murder, he got a new life. The only thing missing was her. How could he be so attached to her after one meeting?  Family/Love story  SxS
1. Sudden Plan: Executed

Here it came again. The pain, the blood, it was nothing new. Maybe he had just gotten used to this, but in the back of his mind he knew that this wasn't something to get used to. It wasn't something that was even supposed to happen. However, that didn't matter now, it was happening and he couldn't do anything to stop it. So, an eight year old Sasuke tensed up and waited for the next hit.

It came on his cheek this time. This wasn't some little slap, he was punched and he felt his body fall through the air for a minute then land hard on the ground against his back. He'd have a bruise there for sure. Sasuke closed one eye against the pain that made his face feel swollen and the rib that just felt like it cracked. The other eye was focused on his father.

And his father was on him again the second he landed. This time it was a kick to said pained rib and this time he felt like it really did cracked. His chest heaved with the effort of coughing up blood that was stuck in his stomach. Sasuke was nauseated by the metallic and iron taste of his own blood.

"Get up," his father slurred. The eight year old glared at him but it just earned him another kick to the hip. A non-gentle kick to the hip. But Sasuke got up, so his drunk father didn't have a reason to hit him any harder.

Slowly, Sasuke got to his feet with the help of the wall behind him. Looking up at his father, he let his hate show but he was back on the ground with a back hand to his other cheek. Sasuke then got back up off the floor, not wanting to feel like a coward. He wouldn't stay on the ground in front of this man.

_Stop it. _

His father stumbled to the other side of the room where Sasuke had landed. He took a drink of sake from the bottle and threw it at the wall behind Sasuke. Trembling, with fear and anger, Sasuke stood and looked his father in the face. But again, the hit came, in the stomach this time, just like last night. Sasuke doubled over from the aching in his mid section and refused to fall to his knees.

_Don't. _

A few seconds later Sasuke stood up and when the punch came this time, he dodged it. The fist plowed into the wall. With an anger roar, his father ripped his fist out of the wall and slammed it at Sasuke again. Sasuke caught it in the shoulder and felt a rip in his muscle. He let out a whimper and held out his hand to catch himself when he hit the floor.

_Please. _

Sasuke bit back tears. He didn't want to cry, but there wasn't anything in his body that didn't hurt. He was always in pain, it was always like this. A never ending cycle that Sasuke just couldn't stop. Sasuke felt a kick to his stomach but he was starting to get used to it, even getting used to the blood that he just coughed up again.

_Stop it!_

He just couldn't get up anymore. He didn't even want to. If he just laid here maybe his father would get bored and go away. Go away and let Sasuke mourn in his misery alone. His father hit him again, but this time he just didn't feel it. Sasuke laid there, looking up at his father. Hate, there was so much hate that Sasuke felt at the moment but he just couldn't surface it. Sasuke could do nothing but lay there and take the next hit.

_STOP IT!!_

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

The sun shone so bright that Sasuke closed his eyes to it. The tree he sat under did nothing to stop the sun from shining on him. He looked around at the kids playing in the playground and eating their lunch on picnic tables and hated everyone of them. They didn't have a psychotic freak for a father. Their families loved them and made them lunch to eat outside. Sasuke looked at his empty lap and his stomach growled a bit.

He scowled at it and went back to brooding. The sun was getting annoying, but at least the wind was getting the leaves to move in front of it. His classmates ran around laughing, he scoffed. They were annoying. All the teachers thinking that they knew everything, bull, they didn't know anything, least of all how to teach. Annoying.

Sasuke picked some grass to tear it apart, just for entertainment. After a while it wasn't entertaining anymore and looked around for something else to do. There was nothing, so he sat in his spot under the tree and folded his sore arms. He held back a wince.

From behind him came a giggle, but he ignored it. Then it came closer, still he ignored it. But it sounded again, from the same person and he was so annoyed that the eight year old rounded back, intent on telling whoever it was to shut up.

Instead he came nose to nose with bright green eyes. He had never seen eyes like that and they made him stare for a second before he backed away from the girl that possessed the eyes he liked. With the bright green eyes, came bright pink hair and Sasuke found himself staring a really pretty girl about his own age.

"Who are you?" he demanded rudely, uncomfortable with this girl. She giggled again and sat down, uninvited, next to him under the tree.

"My name's Sakura, why are you pouting so much?" she said, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her head on them.

"I'm not pouting," Sasuke scoffed. He didn't like this girl.

"Of course you are. If you weren't, you'd be playing with us," Sakura told him, with a smile on her face. Sasuke just glared at her, with a flare of anger starting in his gut.

"I don't play," he said, hoping she'd get the hint and shove off. She didn't.

"Well, then I'll sit with you so you're not lonely and we can share my lunch box, since you don't have one, okay?" she said, pulling a box from the other side of her and placing it in front of the both of them.

Sasuke just looked at her smiling face. He'd never seen anyone smile the way she did. It was just so out there and full of energy, it was nothing like the small, polite smiles he'd seen. This girl was seemed different and kinda stupid. "You're annoying," he blurted out.

Sakura looked over, a fire in her bright green eyes and said, "Well, you're no prince charming either." She took a rough bite from half the sandwich that was in the lunch box. Without censoring his thoughts Sasuke made a fool of himself.

"Who's prince charming?" he asked. The minute he asked, he wished he could have retracted the words that revealed his lack of knowledge. Sakura looked at him weird. But instead of denouncing his lack of knowledge, she enlightened him.

"Um, he's a person that a princess marries, the perfect guy," she told him with a smile. His lips twitched up involuntarily. He couldn't help it, the idea was just so stupid. Why would a boy want to marry a girl anyway? The idea just didn't make sense. Her smile grew really wide and she gasped at him. "You just smiled!" she said.

"You're really annoying," he said, but the slight tell tale of his one up curved lip gave him away. She just giggled again and took another bite of the sandwich.

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked after a moment.

"I'm not hungry," was his automatic response. But his stomach growled just then and gave him away. Sakura laughed full out with her pink hair slightly shaking with the laughter.

"You can just eat it," she told him, again with the smile. He looked at the food and with hesitation pulled out the other half of the sandwich. But before he put some of it into his mouth he looked over at Sakura. She was starring at him, making him slightly uncomfortable.

"I can't eat with you staring at me," he said, voice deadpanned. Her face heated up to a slight pink and she looked away. Only then, with a tiny smirk on his face, did he take a bite of the sandwich.

Once he chewed he looked over at her. "Are you new here?"

Sakura shook her head. How could that be? He'd remember a girl with pink hair who smiled a lot running around here at recess. But in his memory he just couldn't see her, he'd never met her before. This girl, Sakura, was confusing him with her smiles and kindness. He couldn't remember a time someone had been this nice to him.

"My uncle is a teacher here and my mom and dad are moving so I came to work with him for the day while mom and daddy get things set up at our new house," Sakura told him, then popped a grape into her mouth.

"So you're only here for one day?" he asked, slightly disappointed that she wasn't going to stay. He pushed away the emotion, wondering where that even came from.

"Yeah, the new house is in the next state over, so I won't go to this school," she said, looking almost as disappointed at he felt. Sasuke sucked it up though. He didn't know what else to say so he said nothing and silence fell over them.

Sakura then looked over at him, but said nothing. Her head was slightly tilted to the side. He continued to eat, but he noticed that this was an annoying habit she seemed to have. He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye, hoping she wouldn't notice. But she didn't stop starring and she was looking rather thoughtful so he didn't interrupt her even though he could feel his face growing hotter with each passing second.

"You never told me your name," she said. Sasuke looked over surprised.

"Sasuke," he said, without thought. She graced him with one of her bright smiles and lunged at him.

She hugged him, squealing, "Hi, Sasuke." But his encounter with his father last night didn't make this possible without pain. He hissed at the pain that she just caused in his arm and chest area. Immediately, she pulled back and looked at him. He readjusted his sore limbs so they didn't hurt anymore, while she stared at him, confused.

"Are you okay?" she demanded. Her gaze went to the bruise on his cheek that she had ignored during their encounter.

"Just fine," he grunted, his chest feeling heavy making breathing slightly difficult.

"How'd you get that bruise on your cheek?" she asked, suddenly serious for an eight year old. The anger in the pit of his gut that had diminished, came back now in full force. She had no right to ask him that like she expected him to answer. What did she know? She was too happy to know anything. And in Sasuke's opinion, she should stay that innocent and stop asking stupid questions. Stupid questions that could get her in trouble.

"Like it matters," he said. He looked away from her, so she couldn't see the bruise anymore. Sakura touched his shoulder, as a sign of comfort he guessed. He scrunched up his face in pain and flinched away from her hand. His shoulder felt even worse today than if felt last night.

"Sasuke," she breathed. Ashamed, he turned his body away from her. He didn't want her pity, he couldn't handle it. _How could she even know? Is she psychic or something? _he thought aggressively.

"Go away," he pushed. She laid a comforting hand on his back. He flinched, but this time it wasn't pain. It was just that she touched him so gently, not like anyone else had before. It was comforting in a way.

"I'm sorry," Sakura sounded so sincere. Sasuke felt a tug at his chest and a burn in his eyes.

"Just go away," he told her, harder this time, so she would. She didn't. This girl was too stubborn to go anywhere. She wanted to help him. She was just too nice.

"You have to tell somebody," she urged him. Sasuke clenched his jaw together. Her hand was still on his back.

"They wouldn't listen," he rejected. _Go away, go away_, he chanted, his heart rate increasing. But Sakura was a stubborn one and she didn't listen to his thoughts.

"Make them. Or something really bad could happen," she said. Her voice was small and quiet, so unlike how she was before. Sasuke clenched his fists in the grass, not knowing what he was feeling at this point in the conversation.

"Something bad does happen, all the time," Sasuke said. He felt himself shake, he was so nervous. Sasuke guessed that she was going to say something else but she was cut off.

"Sakura! Get over here!" a teacher shouted. Sasuke looked over and guessed it was her uncle.

"I'm not someone you should talk to, you should go away," Sasuke said over his shoulder. She felt her lay her head on his back, and Sasuke felt his heart beat faster and faster. He didn't know what it was doing.

"'Should' doesn't mean anything. I can do what I want. I'm scared for you," she said. He felt the vibration of her voice on his back and it made him tingly. She was accepting him, he thought, stunned. Sasuke just didn't know how to deal with that.

"You've just met me," Sasuke reminded her.

"Does that matter?" Sakura replied.

"Sakura! Now!" the teacher said. Just then, the bell for recess was rung and all the kids started to file back into the building. Sakura got up, slowly. Before she left with her lunch box, he felt her hand slide from his back, like she didn't want to leave and walked toward her uncle. She looked back when she reached her uncle, to see Sasuke still under the tree.

Sasuke looked at her, not able to look away from the bright green eyes and watched her until she disappeared. The playground was empty now, but he just couldn't stop looking where she had last been.

"Uchiha! Get inside!" another teacher yelled from the door to the building. With slight annoyance at the teacher, he got up and crossed the basketball court to go into the building. Once inside, he didn't see Sakura. And he didn't see her for the rest of the day.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

That night he got home, but the house was silent. That was such a relief that Sasuke sighed audibly. The house didn't make a sound as he went from the foyer to the den. He didn't dare stay there long, not knowing when his father would come home. His father had an odd job that gave him weird hours, so it couldn't be predicted when Sasuke would have to hide.

In the den Sasuke unlocked the window, then looked around to see if anyone was outside. There was no one in the neighbor's yard or window, so Sasuke pushed up on with all his strength to push the window open. With a few shoves it was at the point where he could reach under it and pull up the screen. He let the screen behind the glass stay raised, then closed the window but didn't lock it.

_Something really bad could happen._

Sasuke stopped in the hallway and shook off Sakura's words. He knew what could happen to him if he stayed here. Sakura didn't need to tell him that. But he also knew the bigger risk of trying to run away. He didn't know what success would bring him but he knew what failure would. That option was shoved from his mind. That wasn't something he wanted to think about right now.

Quickly Sasuke took the kitchen and found cans and warm pop that wouldn't spoil fast and threw them in a bag that was under the sink. He threw in bottles of water and a bag of chips as well. Taking the items upstairs, he put them on the bedside stand. Sasuke hurriedly checked the time and found it to be near five o'clock. His father had a meeting today and he knew that afterward he'd go out drinking with his buddies again, just like he did every meeting, so he probably wouldn't be home for another four hours at least. Quickly, Sasuke ran to his father's room. He had never been his father's room and the door creaked when he opened it.

His heart beat thundered in his ears and his palms were sweating. He didn't know why, it's not like he was going to get caught, but all the same, he couldn't stop his adrenaline from pumping throughout his body. He crept in the room going on tiptoe. The floorboards cricked under his weight and Sasuke held his breath but kept moving forward into the dark, intimidating room. The room was colder than the rest of the house and Sasuke didn't dare turn the light on.

He scurried across the room like a mouse, trying to make minimal noise. His eyes were adjusting to the light and he crossed the room to the closet. Sasuke could only see from the light in the hallway but it was enough to tell him that what he was looking for wasn't there. So Sasuke crept to the right and opened his father's dresser drawers and moved stuff around so he could find what he was looking for.

His squinted in the minimal light, but the item wasn't in the drawers either. Sasuke stood, frustrated, and looked around. The darkness in this room was getting to him, making him more scared than he already was. He felt a sense of hurriedness, his hands were trembling and his knees were shaking. Quickly, he ducked down on the floor and looked under the bed, the last place he had to look.

And he found a box. This was his best lead all day. Sasuke pulled the box to him and sat on his legs. Trembling hands reached out and the lid to the box opened like the heavens when an angel sings Hallelujah. Inside was a sleek black pistol, shining in the dim light. Sasuke picked it up out of the box and marveled at its weight. Under the pistol was the silencer that went with it. Sasuke's nerves jacked up one more level with the discovery of the silencer. He was stunned that he actually found the gun because in the back of his mind he had wondered, what if he couldn't find it.

Now, his resolve hardened one more time that night. He took a deep breath to steady himself then wiped his finger prints off the box and left it out. He destroyed his finger prints on the dresser drawers and the closet knob. He left the room leaving the door open. In the hallway upstairs he jumped up and broke pictures or tore them down. In the upstairs bathroom, he went to the cabinet and pushed out all the products, then his own room and messed it up. He threw clothes and tipped the dresser then broke the lamp.

Rushing downstairs, he tore the whole place to hell. Pans were on the floor, food was jumbled and disorganized. The pillows on the couch thrown around, the TV was smashed, the chair was turned over and all the pictures on the wall were torn down or their glass was broken. Taking a step back to look at his handiwork, Sasuke felt satisfaction creep up his spine and made his face muscles give a dirty grin. Sasuke went into the downstairs hallway and turned into the kitchen.

He grabbed a long knife and, with a knife in one hand and gun in the other, went up the flight of stairs that led him to the second floor. He took his t-shirt and ripped the sleeve, then ripped that sleeve in half. He walked over the best and put down the gun with that silencer that was attached to it. Sasuke went over the wall and steeling himself for more pain, closed his eyes and sliced the knife across his palm.

The slice was slightly deep and it burned. Sasuke cried out and felt tears form in his eyes. The tears clung to his lashed and then dripped down his cheeks. Slamming his burning palm against the wall, he smeared blood on it. When the wall was a dark crimson he removed his hand from the wall and wrapped it in his sleeve then tied it so the makeshift bandage stayed in place. His tears had ceased forming and walking back to the bed he lifted the gun in his good hand.

Sasuke checked the silencer and, being satisfied with it, shot it at the wall where his blood was stained. The kick back hurt his hand and arm so much that he dropped the gun and it clattered to the floor. Quickly, he bent to retrieve it and stuffed that in his bag too. He took one last look at the wall then ran downstairs in darkness. He rushed to the living room and opened the window, careful not to let his finger prints touch it much.

Sasuke climbed out and circled around the house. Sasuke found a window that was placed in the kitchen and with eerie calm, he threw a rock at it. The window shattered, making a loud crash and Sasuke ran. His heart was beating so hard he could feel the pumping of blood in his body and his hands were so shaky, but he couldn't help it. Sasuke ran and ran until he didn't know where he was anymore. When he had no clue where he was or what time it was, only that it was dark, he found a deep creek. At the creek, Sasuke wiped off the finger prints and threw it in the creek.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

His body burned. His lungs were dying, his feet were blistered and his legs felt like jell-o. Sasuke had never felt like this, in all his eight years of being kicked around by his dad this feeling of exhaustion was new to him. This was deep in his bones, almost buried in his soul. He had tried to sleep, but he couldn't manage anything more than a light, shallow snooze.

Sasuke was too paranoid to sleep. He was afraid they'd come after him and give him back to his dad. That wasn't acceptable. So Sasuke kept going and didn't stop. When he did stop it was to rest and eat. But his supplies had given out two days ago. He was on his last bottle of water. Sasuke didn't keep track of the days anymore, he didn't even know where he was. All he knew was that being here and exhausted was better than being with his father.

The sun was shining hot that day. But he was in the woods and couldn't feel its rays. However he could feel its heat. It felt like it was suffocating him. His breathing was labored and he struggled to take one more step, but he managed it. He took another and another. Sasuke didn't know how he had that strength, or what he was even doing, but he kept going. The fear and anger motivation him to move forward and never look back.

_I'm away, Sakura. Nothing bad is going to happen anymore._

She had been on his mind since he had ran away. She was his catalyst. Sakura had given him this idea to get away, no matter what. For that, he would always be grateful to her. Without her, he would have just endured. Now he felt indebted to her for helping him run. Sasuke took another step and crunched the grass. Then another. All at once his vision started to blur. Sasuke stopped, alarm rising up in him. His vision swam and then all at once went black. And Sasuke had no choice but to fall into the abyss.

But even though his body couldn't support him anymore, his mind told him to wake up. Sasuke struggled to open his eyes, to keep going. He rolled on his back with a moan. Past injuries hurting him. He didn't know how long he laid there, but despite his efforts to open his eyes, he couldn't. They were just too heavy.

Suddenly, he heard a voice. It shouted and sounded like it was coming closer. The voice was deep, male. Sasuke felt scared. What if it was his father? What if he had been found and was going to get sent back to his father? He wanted to run again and keep going. But he couldn't open his eyes, they just wouldn't do it. His body refused to move even though his mind commanded it to frantically. Nothing worked.

Sasuke felt hands on him. Running over him, checking him for injuries. Then the hands lifted him up. One hand under his knees and the other supporting his back. Sasuke tried to struggle and break free. He couldn't, again his body refused him. The voice was talking again, but it sounded so far away that Sasuke couldn't make out what he was saying. It was as if he was under water. And despite all his struggles, Sasuke's world went black.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

There was something soft under him. It felt suspiciously like a bed. He was aware that his mouth was completely dry, his stomach felt like a black hole, and his arm felt sort of pricked. Sasuke came slowly into consciousness, his head spinning. He groaned but it felt like a rasp came from his throat and he opened his eyes.

Bright lights burned his retinas and he quickly closed them again. Not only did he notice that his eyes burned now, but his body felt like lead. So heavy that he doubt he could lift it. His life sucked at the moment.

"So you're finally awake," a male voice spoke. With a lot of effort on his part, Sasuke managed to turn his neck and open his eyes. Vision was blurry at first, but then, after a few blinks, came into focus.

A tall man sat in the seat beside the bed. A hospital bed, in a hospital room and Sasuke only guessed he was tall, since he was sitting. His shoulders were wide and the man was wearing very dark colors: dark pants and shirt and dark green vest. Something surprising to Sasuke was that a mask crept up from his shirt and covered the lower half of his face. The man had a shock of white hair but he didn't look old at all. The last shocking thing Sasuke saw was the eyes patch over his left eyes.

"Where am I and who are you?" Sasuke croaked out. His throat burned with the effort.

"The hospital," the man said like it was no big deal. "My name is Kakashi Hatake."

Sasuke felt his heart speed up and stomach fall to his knees. He'd been found.

* * *

**A/N: A new story for a new day. Earlier in my school year I had been reading **_**The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn**_** and during that time, I had written the first part of this but never finished. So while my other story is getting edited, I'm writing this one on a more serious basis. Read, review. **


	2. Begin Anew

They found him. Sasuke was going to get sent back to his father and he was going to be so pissed that his father would beat him to within an inch of his life. Not even within an inch. His father was going to beat him the whole way to death's door. Panic was bubbling inside Sasuke's body and he could hear a beeping noise getting faster and faster in his ear. Sasuke felt his body start to tremble and when he tried to suppress it that annoying beeping just rang in his ear, faster and louder than a second before.

The man named Kakashi stood up and looked at the monitor besides Sasuke's bed. At the same time, a nurse rushed in and shoved him aside so she could look at it too. Sasuke didn't know what was going on, but he wanted to leave and when he tried to get up, the nurse held him down. She looked over worked and tired but her eyes were still alert.

"No, no. Stay down, honey. What's wrong? Why are you upset?" The nurse looked at Sasuke's face. Her honey eyes were big and doe-like with concern filled up to the brim. It took a while for Sasuke to understand it.

The machine was hooked up to his heart rate. He couldn't get nervous or paranoid without anyone wondering why his heart rate was shooting to the roof. Sasuke didn't dare tell them anything about why he was upset. If they knew, they'd send him back but maybe there was a chance that they didn't know who he was and where he was from. He felt better with that thought and his heart calmed down.

"Sorry, the hospital surprised me," he told the nurse, who still had a hand on his shoulder to keep him down. She broke out in a smile and chuckled lightly.

"It's okay, honey. We'll take good care of you here," the nurse told him. Sasuke, who had managed to calm his heart down so the machine wouldn't go off, was still tense no matter what the nurse said. "Now that you're awake, I'll go call the doctor so we can get things moving along."

The nurse exited quickly and shut the door only slightly. Sasuke turned back to study Kakashi and was surprised to find that Kakashi was studying him from his seat beside the bed. His gaze was narrowed and Sasuke gulped. He may be able to fool the nurse, but Sasuke had a feeling that fooling the man sitting before him wasn't going to be so easy.

"Well, now that we've settled that, how about you tell me who you are?" Kakashi said. His gaze was boring into Sasuke and he was being to feel uncomfortable with the scrutiny. Sasuke hesitated, wondering how much to tell him.

"Do you not remember who you are?" Kakashi suggested. Quickly, he made a decision.

"My name's Sasuke. Sasuke Aoshi," he made up on the spot. There was no way he was giving this guy his full name so he could track Sasuke's family and give him back to his dad. Kakashi seemed to accept it easily enough, but it looked liked he wanted to know more. He was cut off, however, when a short, balding man with a long white coat shrugged in the room. His middle was round and he reminded Sasuke of a doctor-style Santa Clause.

"Well, hello, young man," the doctor boomed. His voice was a deep echo in the room. Sasuke was taken slightly aback when the doctor spoke to him directly.

"Hi," he told the doctor, uncertainly. The doctor gave a big, huge grin and walked up beside where Kakashi was sitting and stuck out his hand. Sasuke didn't know whether to stare at it or look at the doctor like he was a fool.

"Oh, sorry, I'm guessing your arm probably hurts you, huh?" the doctor asked when Sasuke didn't take his hand. He looked down to see a needle stuck on the back of his hand. The needle was attached to a tube which was attached to a bag of liquid.

"Kinda," Sasuke told the doctor. His hand didn't really hurt much, he just didn't want to touch the doctor's hand.

"Well, you should be glad that you only have minor injuries. A few torso bruises and a cut on your hand is pretty good for being out in the woods for however long you were out there," the doctor told him. The doctor sat on his bed and looked him in the eye.

"That hand of your's needed a few stitches, how'd you cut it?" he asked. Sasuke looked down at his right hand. Indeed, there were stitches in his hand. He didn't think that he had cut himself that deep.

"I fell. On broken glass," Sasuke fabricated. He looked back up at the doctor.

"Is he going to be alright, doc?" Kakashi asked, breaking the quiet silence that followed Sasuke's statement. The doctor eased off the bed and addressed Kakashi.

"Yes, indeed. He can leave right now if his parents were here. Do you want us to contact your parents, son?" the doctor asked. Sasuke swallowed hard.

"My parents aren't alive. They died a few years ago. I've been alone ever since," Sasuke fibbed. He was wracking up little white lies. One here and there, he'd never lied this much in his entire life.

"Well, that poses a problem," the doctor said quietly. He meant for it to be to himself, Sasuke was sure.

"How about you give us a few minutes and we'll come up with a solution?" Kakashi said to the doctor. The doctor nodded his head and gracefully left the room. Sasuke felt the silence like a crushing weight on his chest when he was alone with Kakashi.

"Well, I guess what first needs to happen is tell me why you were out in the woods," Kakashi directed at him. Sasuke looked over and, tired of laying down, sat up. Kakashi didn't try to stop him. He succeeded with a little effort. The time gave him an excuse to hurry up and think of a quick lie.

"I was just wandering. Like I've done for a while. I just guess I over did it," he lied. Since when was he such a great liar? Sasuke was surprising himself with how true it sounded, even to his own ears.

"That's a mild way of putting it. When I found you, I thought that you were dead," Kakashi revealed. Sasuke wiped his head over to stare at Kakashi. He felt his mouth hang slightly open.

"You found me in the woods?" Sasuke sounded shocked. And he was shocked. But now that he slowed down and thought about it, it didn't sound that shocking. Why else would a strange man be sitting at his bedside?

"Yes, I did. You gave me quite a scare. When I got you to the hospital, I was glad to find that it was just exhaustion and mild dehydration you were suffering from," he said. Kakashi never broke eye contact. And Sasuke found that he couldn't look away from his savior's single eye.

"I didn't know I was that tired," Sasuke said, just for something to say.

"What are you going to do now?" Kakashi wondered out loud. Sasuke didn't understand what Kakashi meant.

"Huh?"

"You have no family to take you back home," Kakashi pointed out. Ah, yes, that's right. Sasuke understood. To be honest, everything at the hospital had happened so fast that he hadn't even given what to do next a thought.

"You're right," Sasuke said quietly, breaking off eye contact and placing his gaze on the blanket.

"I live alone, you could come and live with me," Kakashi said. Sasuke looked up again, not believing what he was hearing.

"I don't know you," was Sasuke's automatic response. Immediately he felt ashamed. This man had saved him and was now offering him a place to stay and he was shooting it down. What was wrong with him?

"I can see why you would say that, but I would rather not have a seven year old kid out on the streets," Kakashi reasoned.

"I'm eight," he corrected. Sasuke looked at him. Really looked at him. Kakashi's hair was in disarray, his clothes were rumpled and had odd creases in them, there was a bag under Kakashi's only visible eye and his posture was drooping in the chair as time passed. Kakashi was tired, maybe he had even stayed with him all night.

"I stand corrected then," Kakashi conceded. Sasuke guts told him that this guy was nothing like this father. This man had not only saved him, but had stayed with him all night at the hospital to make sure he was okay. So he made a split decision.

"I'll do it," Sasuke told him, leaning forward slightly. Kakashi was taken aback by the determination in his tone and hesitated for a second.

"Do what?"

"Live with you," Sasuke clarified. He was taking a risk, but his instinct told him that this risk would be worth it.

Kakashi breathed a sigh. Sasuke couldn't tell if it was a relieved sigh or a tired sigh. Maybe it was both. "Alright, I'll go get the paperwork filled out. Sit tight," he told the younger boy. Sasuke didn't need to be told. He watched Kakashi exit, wondering what he was going to do after the situation was all said and done.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

Kakashi Hatake didn't have a house but it was a decent sized apartment. Well, it would have been if you could have seen the floor through the mess. The twosome stepped into the living room that was full of old newspapers, letters, random papers, a few coffee mugs, and an out dated TV. A dark colored carpet could be seen through the junk and the walls were a chestnut brown. Sasuke looked up and stared at his knew roommate.

Kakashi chuckled. "I didn't have time to clean everything up. The decision was really spilt second," he excused. He still chuckled as Sasuke continued to stare at him. It wasn't that he didn't like the mess, he just wasn't used to it. At his father's house the maid had cleaned everything and to Sasuke this mess was wonderful. It made him so far away from father that he could have jumped for joy. Everything was so different that it was almost like Sasuke had entered a different universe.

"Don't worry, it's fine," he told the older man, not really comfortable showing his excitement. Kakashi nodded his head and walked further into the apartment. He disappeared when he turned to the right. As he looked around, Sasuke didn't know whether to follow him or stand there. He figured standing there would make him look like an idiot, so he followed Kakashi to see where he went.

Sasuke found Kakashi in the kitchen/dining room rummaging around under the counter top in the bottom cabinets. He came up with a pan in his hand and filled it half full with water. He quietly set the pan on the stove and lit the burner. Turning, Kakashi noticed Sasuke standing there, looking slightly bored by the expression on his face.

"I thought you'd be hungry. Come on, I'll show you to the spare bed room," Kakashi told him, laying a hand on Sasuke's back to guide him. Sasuke tried not to flinch but he failed. And what was worse was that Kakashi noticed. Sasuke could feel his stare at the top of his head even though Kakashi was no longer touching him.

Kakashi lead Sasuke through a hallway that was in the back of the kitchen. There were lamps on the walls but they were too high up for Sasuke to adjust. In the hallway there was a dim glow of soft light and then Kakashi reached up and turned the lamp on a brighter setting. The hallway was short and Sasuke could see that at the end of the hallway was the living room. Kakashi walked down the hall past a door on the left.

"That's my room," he said, pointing to the door. Then they passed a room on the right. "This is the bathroom." Kakashi walked on and stopped at a door on the left again nearest the living room entrance to the hall. "And this is your room."

Kakashi pushed open a worn, white door. The hinges creaked a little but not much. The room was plain. There was a full size bed in the middle of the room, a night stand beside the bed, a dresser on the wall to the right, a window above the bed that showed where what was in the back of the apartment buildings, and a desk on the left wall. Every item was normal, standard, and ordinary. There was nothing to boast of a person living there. The emptiness hit Sasuke in the face and all of a sudden he was uncomfortable.

Kakashi stepped back and let Sasuke enter the room. He did and the nagging feeling of emptiness still clung in the air as he looked around the room. Sasuke set down the little nap sack that he had had when he ran away. Kakashi stepped in after him and looked around. With Kakashi there, it didn't feel so empty.

"It's not much but I think it should do," Kakashi said, hands in his pockets.

"No, it's fine," Sasuke said. He looked back at Kakashi. He wasn't expecting anything but the silence did seem strained. Sasuke wasn't used to not liking the silence but he wished that he had something more to say, like Thank you. As he opened his mouth to say it, Kakashi spoke, breaking the silence.

"The water is probably boiling, put your stuff away and make yourself at home. When you're done come into the kitchen for supper," Kakashi said, then walked out the door leaving Sasuke in the room. Sasuke looked around the room one more time. And again, he wondering what he had gotten himself into.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

It didn't take him long to put his few changes of clothes in the dresser. He put the nap sack inside the closet in the back. When he was done, he walked out of the room, not bothering to shut the door, and went right to go to the kitchen. Once out of the hallway, Sasuke could smell some kind of flavoring and looked to the stove.

Kakashi was there adding flavoring to ramen that was to be their dinner that night. He noticed Sasuke in the doorway and motioned him forward. Sasuke obeyed. Kakashi had two steaming bowls with forks and walked to the table. The table was as messy as the living room had been and Kakashi just shoved aside some papers with his forearm. He set one bowl in front of himself then one on the other side of the small in front of an empty seat. Sasuke sat in the empty seat, all of a sudden very tired.

They ate in silence for the most part until Sasuke noticed the papers they were eating beside. The papers were marked in red crossing out numbers and equations. Sasuke had never seen math like that. He stared at it, trying to figure out what kind of math it was. Kakashi broke his concentration, making him jump in surprise.

"You won't be able to figure out those problems," Kakashi said. When Sasuke jumped, he apologized.

"You're a math teacher?" Sasuke asked, staring at his masked face.

"Yes, I am. At the high school. And you won't be able to figure out those high school problems," Kakashi told him. He didn't take the paper away, just let Sasuke stare at it until he finally gave up.

"What kind of math do you teach?" Sasuke wondered. He couldn't figured out the pattern to that problem that the person who took the test got wrong too.

"Algebra. Though, this year I also have a geometry class, too," Kakashi replied. Sasuke realized that Kakashi had finished his ramen and he had barely touched it. All at once, his hunger hit him and Sasuke devoured the rest of his ramen, not really tasting it. From the one eye that he could see, Sasuke saw Kakashi's elevated eyebrow. Sasuke didn't say anything, he had no idea what to say, as Kakashi took the bowls to the sink, washed them out, and put them in the dishwasher.

Kakashi came back and sat down. This time Sasuke didn't let silence reign.

"Why do you wear an eye patch and a mask?" Sasuke asked. He swung his feet from where he sat because his feet didn't quite reach the floor just yet.

"I was injured," Kakashi said shortly as he took a paper and a red pen and started going through the paper.

"I can tell, I meant how," Sasuke slightly sneered. Why couldn't he just get a straight answer from this guy?

"Ah, well, ask the question to get that answer. But anyway, I got it on an assignment when I was a sniper for the army," Kakashi explained. He didn't looked up. He said it like that was completely. It was like he was talking about the weather outside. Sasuke, however, was stunned.

"You were in the army?" he asked, only he couldn't keep the astonishment from his voice. Kakashi glanced up.

"Yes, after I graduated high school. I was injured a little over a year ago. When I came back, I got a job as a high school teacher. I'm more used to teenagers than kids," Kakashi said lightly. Sasuke recognized it for what it was: an apology. He wasn't used to younger children and had no experience handling them, so if he messed up, he was sorry because he didn't know how to act with a younger kid.

"Did it hurt?" Sasuke wondered, glad for the apology up front.

"Yes, it did. A knife cut down from my eyebrow to my chin. You can see part of the scar," Kakashi told him. Sasuke looked closer and saw pink line from the bottom of his eye patch to the top of his mask. He was shocked. Something that bad had happened to him. Kakashi had scars like Sasuke did.

"Is that why you wear the mask?" Sasuke asked, not taking his eyes away from the scar.

"The bottom part had become infected and by the time it healed, it was very distracting. So I wear the mask instead," Kakashi recounted clearly. Kakashi put the paper down and stared at Sasuke. "It's my turn for Q and A."

Sasuke gulped. Was he really not safe? Had he not convinced Kakashi that he was alone in this world? Maybe he suspected the truth!

"Where you running from something?" he asked. Sasuke felt his heart in his throat. He swallowed so he was able to speak.

"Just wandering. I lost track of time," Sasuke managed to say. _Lie better, Uchiha._ "After my parents died, I never thought much about myself. I just didn't care anymore."

_So much better._

"What were your parents' names?" Kakashi asked. Sasuke felt grateful that he was quick with answers.

"Mitashi and Aya Aoshi. They were dentists," Sasuke lied through his teeth. He felt so bad for lying. Kakashi was taking care of him but he couldn't have Kakashi find out who his father was. He might be sent back to him and Sasuke would rather die than be put in that hell hole again.

"Dentists? So I'm guessing they made you brush your teeth twice a day," Kakashi amused the idea. He found it funny and Sasuke could see the grin through his mask.

"Yeah, they did," he said quietly. Actually, the maid had made him brush and floss when she worked in the morning or at night.

"How did they die?" Kakashi asked, his serious face boring into Sasuke.

"They were on their way to a dentist convention. But it was snowing in the mountains that day and they wrecked," Sasuke spun. Each lie was building on top of each other. Sasuke didn't know how much he more he could lie to this man.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," he said. Sasuke, who had been looking at the table, looked up. Sympathy was written like a book in Kakashi's visible eye. It was guilt that made him look down again and scoot back his chair.

"I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed," Sasuke told him. He scooted the chair back into place. Kakashi got up too.

"Okay. Goodnight, Sasuke," Kakashi said. Guilt was eating him up, making him almost unable to speak.

"Night."

With that, Sasuke left to go down the hallway. Once he disappeared, Kakashi sat down and started to think over everything that Sasuke had told him.

---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---

Sasuke sighed again as the noisy neighbors fought again. Recently, two people had moved into the apartment next to him and Kakashi. An older man and a younger boy. Though, unlike him and Kakashi, the neighbors fought about everything. Waking up once again to the fight for the younger boy, Naruto, to wake up Sasuke sighed in his bed.

He looked up at the same ceiling he had looked at for the past four years. He knew Kakashi had already left for the high school even though he'd probably be late for his class no matter how early he left the apartment. Sasuke decided not to lounge around and get up. He quickly got ready for school and grabbed an apple on his way out. He closed the apartment door and locked it, then shoved the key in his pocket.

At the same time, a blond boy stumbled out of the apartment next to him. He was wearing bright orange, for some unknown reason. Sasuke looked over that boy, who was the same age as him, and glared. Naruto glared right back. Since they had moved into the apartment, Sasuke hadn't liked the annoying, loud blond. In return, Naruto didn't like Sasuke. So after their usual glare at each other, Sasuke ignored him and walked down the street.

He got to school in a few minutes of walking. Naruto came just after him, since they took the same route but never talked to each other. Sasuke ignored the Dobe and went about the day as usual. He danced through all his classes, every one of them being to easy for him and during lunch hour, hung out with Shikamaru and Choji. Shino and Kiba joined them after they entered the cafeteria. However, during lunch, Naruto had almost gotten into a fight with Neji.

Sasuke, who had found the fight mildly amusing, was disappointed to see it broken up by a teacher. Lunch had been the highlight of his day and he was bored by the end of the school day. Bored enough to back mouth a teacher and earned himself a little detention after school that day. Sasuke figured he had nothing better to do, so he served it and wasn't able to leave school until five o'clock that evening.

Sasuke leisurely strolled home from detention. The sun was started to set as the fall weather was turning even colder. He passed the park, as always, but noted something different today. There were a few people in the park. They were near the shade and it was hard to make out who it was. Sasuke approached, slowly at first.

Getting a closer look, Sasuke saw Neji. He was standing over someone with a smug look on his face. The few people around him were clapping him on the back and he said something that Sasuke couldn't hear. But he heard the grunt from the person on the ground. As Neji turned to walk away, Sasuke saw Naruto get up.

"This isn't over, Neji!" he shouted. Sasuke was startled with surprise. Naruto was still standing, but only just. Neji turned back, said something quietly, then proceeded to raise his fist. Determined, Sasuke ran to the fight and gripped Neji's raised fist just in time. Naruto, while standing, couldn't have taken another hit. Everyone was so shocked they didn't say anything.

_What the hell have you done, Uchiha?_

Sasuke didn't know, he just acted. His body had moved before his mind understood what it was doing. "That's enough, Hyuuga." It came out, almost, as a growl.

Neji glared at him. "Stay out of this, Aoshi," Neji demanded. Then tired a right hook. Sasuke took the arm he was holding and turned, making it go behind Neji's back. He heard Naruto collapse on the ground behind him. He tightened his hold on the arm. Tightened it so much that Neji went on his knees.

"That is enough. You have won," a voice said. Sasuke looked up from seeing a forced Neji on his knees to glare at one of Neji's friends. Rock Lee. Sasuke tightened his arm, just for a warning, and heard Neji cry out. Then Sasuke let go. Lee rushed to Neji and then the last person there, Tenten, looked over Neji too. She glared at Sasuke. He glared right back and then watched Lee and Tenten help Neji out of the park.*

Sasuke turned around. Naruto was half conscious as he lay on the ground. Relief hit Sasuke like a freight train. He bent over and took one of Naruto's arms and put it over his shoulders. He was supporting most of Naruto's weight. Sasuke started to get them out of the park. He was breathing heavy as he dragged Naruto down the street. Why save the Dobe? Sasuke poured over the question as he dragged Naruto. No answer came to him as he grunted under Naruto's weight.

"Lose some pounds, you Dobe," Sasuke mumbled to himself. He was surprised when Naruto answered him.

"Shut your mouth, Teme," he said weakly. Sasuke smirked. Naruto was going to be fine. Before he knew it, Sasuke was standing in front of Naruto's door. He arranged Naruto and knocked loudly on the door. He waited a little bit, then knocked again.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi's voice broke the silence. Then Naruto's door opened. The man Naruto lived with was tall, wide, muscular, with long white hair, but didn't appear to look that old. His eyes widened as he saw Naruto and Sasuke heard Kakashi's footsteps stopping just behind him.

"What happened?" Jiraiya asked, surprised and relieved to see Naruto.

"Fight," was the only thing Sasuke could grunt out. Naruto seemed to be getting heavier the longer he held on to him. Jiraiya took Naruto from Sasuke and it was the first time he could see Naruto's injuries. A busted lip, already blackened eye, a few bruises, and a lump on his head were all the injuries Sasuke could see.

"Thank you, Sasuke," Jiraiya said. Sasuke was still looking at Naruto, glad that he had intervened when he did. Then shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, thanks, Teme," was a low expression of gratitude that came from Naruto. Sasuke nodded, feeling a warm feeling in his chest, and then walked left to his apartment door and went in. Kakashi apologized for Sasuke's anti-social behavior.

"I'll get the details out of him soon, so we can do something about this," Kakashi assured. Jiraiya nodded.

"Thanks, Kakashi," Jiraiya said.

"Just worry about Naruto," was his only response. Jiraiya nodded and as the door shut, Kakashi heard Jiraiya say, "I just don't understand twelve year olds."

Kakashi smiled and went into his apartment to go interrogate Sasuke. Sasuke was at the table Kakashi found, after looking for him in his room. The table was where they always had most of their serious conversations. It had become a sort of tradition after their first conversation on the first day Sasuke had been here. Kakashi sat down across from Sasuke, who was looking at the table with a confused expression. Maybe after this Naruto and Sasuke would be friends, instead of fighting all the time. He could only hope as he posed his first question.

* * *

*** I got the idea of the fight between Neji and Naruto from a YouTube Doushiji that I watched and is not my idea. **

**So the second chapter is done, next chapter will have a time skip as wel. Review if you got this far.**


	3. Do I Know You?

Sasuke sat in the window sill and looked out over the morning yard of the school. His first period was a free period, and he had absolutely nothing to do. Boredom had crept up his spine and inserted itself into his bones ever since he came to this class. Sasuke was tuning out Naruto, who was rapidly talking to Shikamaru and Kiba very loudly. Early in the morning wasn't Sasuke's speciality as he laid his head on the cool window.

Nine years. It's been nine years since he ran away and got his life back. Sasuke, while stoic and calm, couldn't remember if he'd ever been this happy with his father, not even when his mother was alive. He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto and Shikamaru. The loud one and lazy one who were both his friends. He had Kakashi who was like a father/brother to him. Only one more thing needed to be added to make the story complete. Her.

Sakura. After nine years, he could still picture her bright pink hair and apple colored eyes. She would have made his life perfect. Sasuke had thought about tracking her down, but he didn't know her last name. He had the impression that she moved around a lot so it was doubtful that he'd ever see her again and get the chance to thank her. But sometimes he couldn't help but think that maybe she would show up because she moved a lot and end up at his school. Fantasy was more fun than reality.

"Have you seen her?" Naruto asked Shikamaru. Sasuke, who had been able to tune Naruto out for most of the morning, reached his 'tune-out' limit. He pivoted his head from the window to watch Shikamaru and Naruto talk.

"Do you really need a girlfriend that bad, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, sarcastically monotone. Naruto stuck out his lower lip and turned his head to the side.

"You can't help but see her. Her hair is pink, for God's sake," Naruto excused. Sasuke finally took his head from the window and gave the conversation his full and total attention. Only Shikamaru seemed to notice that Sasuke was listening in, giving no effort to hide his eavesdropping.

"So she dyes it. The poor girl is probably scared of this place enough without you going up to her and trying to make friends," Shikamaru scolded with one eye closed and the other drooping.

"Whatever. She probably could use a friend. Actually, she reminds me of a friend I had when I was a kid. She had pink hair too," Naruto said, more to himself than to anyone else. He looked back up Shikamaru only to find that the lazy asshole had fallen asleep in his chair while sitting up. Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch in his annoyance.

The bell chose at that moment to ring and Sasuke got up and headed straight for the door without a backwards glance to his friends. He was shaking a little bit now. The excitement that he might actually find Sakura was throwing adrenaline into his veins faster than Naruto to choke down a bowl of ramen.

"Oi, Teme, where are you going?" Naruto called from inside the room.

"Library," he said. Sasuke didn't know if Naruto heard him, but he didn't stop as he weaved in and out of the people in the school. This was lunch period and he intended to find a girl with pink to prove or disprove his theory. However, ten minutes later the whole school was gathered in the cafeteria but there wasn't a pink head in sight, dyed or otherwise.

Sasuke's temporary rush just exhausted and he felt disappointed. He had been so sure that it would be Sakura but nothing could be found to say she was there. Sasuke let out a sigh and shoved his hands in to his uniform pockets and strutted out of the lunch room. Discontent rolled through his body as he walked the clean, empty halls. He stopped at his locker and took out his lunch then proceeded to the roof where he could be alone.

Sasuke was trying to get the disappointment off his back when he rounded a corner and bumped into somebody on the other side. The body was smaller than his and didn't carry as much momentum as he did and the body fell on the floor, landing on her butt. _So much for being alone in the halls,_ Sasuke thought. He looked down at the girl and saw the brightest pink hair he'd ever seen.

_Not…happening._

The girl with the pink hair was rubbing her backside at she looked up at him. Her eyes were green, apple green. They were alight with annoyance instead of the last time he had seen them when they had held concern for his well being. This was her. Sasuke couldn't mistake her for whole world. He was snapped out of his shock as he realized she was talking to him.

"Watch where you're going, huh?" she said in a softly scolding tone. Sasuke stared, and he didn't offer to help her up, nor did she ask for his assistance as she stood on her own. She didn't even come up to his chin. When they were eight, they were eye to eye. Now she would be staring at his chest if she didn't look up.

She did look up, and she stared too. Sasuke didn't tell her to quit. His mind was racing with the possibility that she could really be here. The chances were so slim and yet he knew he wouldn't mistake her and she was standing right in front of him. But what if she recognized him? If she could identify him as Sasuke Uchiha, his lies would be out in the open. All his friends would be shocked, Kakashi might even take him back to his father.

His father would probably be pissed. But even if he did go back to his father, Sasuke wouldn't be a defenseless eight year old. On the other hand, he had staged his murder and that was a crime. He could be put in jail. Even if Sasuke told the authorities about his father's abuse, the fact that his father was still prominent in police affairs would hinder formal investigation. He had followed his father in the news and could tell when his money was at work in the police headquarters.

However, if Sakura didn't recognized him he wouldn't be able to thank her without telling her why he was thanking her. Sasuke had been wanted to thank her ever since Kakashi had found him in the woods. Without her, he would have endured, but now he had a life he loved and he wouldn't have had it without her. It seemed selfish not to thank her for that. But thanking her would incriminate himself and he wouldn't do that.

"Do I know you?" a voice asked. Sasuke realized that it was Sakura who was speaking to him. He looked her the eyes.

"What?" he was so lost in thought that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You look familiar. Do I know you?" she repeated. She stood, looking up at him, waiting for an answer. Sasuke knew he had to say something. Tell her the truth and go back to his father, or lie and never get the chance to thank her for the new life he built with the help of his friends. A better man may have told her the truth, but Sasuke made the split decision to lie.

"No, I'd remember someone with pink hair," he said casually, while inside he felt as far from casual as he could possibly be.

_Coward. _

She glanced up, probably looking at her hair. "Yeah, sorry, stupid question. Look, I'm new here and I'm sorta lost. Can you point me in the direction of the cafeteria?" she asked. She was staring. Sasuke found it slightly unnerving.

"Yeah, I'll walk you there," Sasuke said. Still shaken, he turned and started walking from where he came. He heard footsteps following him and out of the corner of his eye saw Sakura standing beside him.

"Thanks. You're a life saver. The school's really big and I'm not used to it," Sakura explained away. Sasuke nodded his acknowledgement, peeking glances at her from the corner of his eye.

"It doesn't take long to get used to it. Where'd you come from?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't believe that he was walking side by side with her. He had dreamed about seeing her again for nine years and he felt that this was a dream and any moment he'd wake up.

"Three states over. My dad moves around lot and my mom and I just have to go with the flow. But they promised that this would be the last time until I graduate," Sakura chatted. He was surprised by how flowing the conversation was going. He had a difficult time holding a conversation with people unless they were Naruto, who refused to shut up, or Kakashi, who liked to interrogate him on random days about a random event that happened.

"Army brat?" Sasuke asked, lifting an eyebrow. Sakura grinned.

"No. My dad's an author. Every time he starts a new book we move to the place where he get the best inspiration," Sakura told him. _That's one I haven't heard._

"And your mom's okay with that?" Sasuke asked. He couldn't picture a mother being happy every time her husband started a new book.

"She's a nurse, so it's not hard for her to find a job. Hospitals could always use another nurse and it gives her a variety of experience," Sakura explained. Sasuke nodded. As they rounded a corner they were on the threshold of the cafeteria and Sasuke felt that this conversation was being ended to quickly.

"You can sit with me and my friends if you have no where else to sit," Sasuke suggested. Sakura flashed him a smile.

"Thank you, that'd be great," Sakura accepted. He nodded and stepped into the loud cafeteria and found his way into the back corner where his friends sat. Sakura followed and Sasuke felt eyes in the back of his head. He wondered if Sakura was staring at him again. As they approached his table he heard Sakura gasp. Sasuke turned his head to look at her.

"Sorry, you never told me your name," Sakura said as they walked. Sasuke suddenly had an eight year old flashback. When they were under the tree, she had said the same thing.

"Sasuke," he told her. They stopped in front of his table.

"Hi, Sasuke," she said with a smile. Sasuke felt his throat constrict. They were nearly having the same conversation. Suddenly her smile faded and she got a hazed look over her eyes.

"Are you sure that I don't know you?" she asked. He nodded. Suddenly there was a scrape of a chair on the floor and Naruto stood up.

"Sakura?" he gasped. Shikamaru, Neji, Shino, Choji, Lee, and Kiba turned their gazed from Sasuke and Sakura to Naruto. Sakura looked over at said boy and gasped as well. A sudden smile falling on her mouth.

"Naruto?" she said eagerly. Naruto rushed toward Sakura and encased her in a huge bear hug while twirling her around. Sasuke felt a stab of annoyance.

_How the hell do they know each other? _

Or perhaps the annoyance was jealousy.

"Sakura, I can't believe you're really here. I haven't seen you in years. What have you been up to? Where do you live now? How's your mom and dad?" Naruto shot off question after question as he was twirling her. Sakura laughed as he put on back on her feet.

"It's good to see you too, Naruto. I've been up to the same old stuff. I live next to a ramen shop and think of you every time I pass it. My parents are fine. How's Jiraiya? What brought you here? You haven't been fighting, have you?" Sakura answered and asked at the same time.

"Jiraiya's still a perv. I got kicked out my old school when twelve for fighting and Jiraiya moved us here. Haven't been fighting all the much lately," Naruto grinned. With each passing second Sasuke seemed to get more aggravated. They were so comfortable with each other. It was like they were old friends or friendly ex's. Sasuke felt his teeth grinding.

"Wow, you and not fighting. It must be really hard," Sakura laughed. Naruto shrugged and punched Sasuke's shoulder.

"Not hard when I got him to fight with," Naruto said, wrapping an arm around Sasuke. Sasuke proceeded to remove Naruto's arm from his person.

"Don't touch me, Dobe," Sasuke said, flinging Naruto's arm away from him. Sakura looked between the two. Sasuke found that he didn't like it. It felt as if he was being compared to Naruto. He hated being compared to anybody.

"Get over it, Teme," Naruto returned. "So how long are you here for this time, Sakura?"

Sakura tore her gaze away from Sasuke to look at Naruto's grinning face. She smiled. "Until I graduation from high school."

Naruto blinked. Then his eyes widened comically to the size of plates. A contagious grin spread on Naruto's lip, as if he couldn't contain it or hold it back. He grabbed a hold of Sakura again and twirled her around again, while laughing. If Sasuke hadn't been so mild mannered he would have ripped them apart. However, he contented himself to watching them with his jaw locked until Naruto put Sakura on her feet again.

"Hey, Naruto! Aren't you going to introduce us to your lady friend!" Kiba asked in his normally loud and obnoxious voice. Naruto turned to the table after letting Sakura down and grinned sheepishly while scratching his head.

"Sorry. This is my friend, Sakura. I met her six years ago," Naruto started. Sakura stepped up and smiled at the table.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," she said. Everyone stared at her. Sasuke knew they were staring. Her face had just lit up in a certain way when she smiled that made her look like an angel. _Damn it. _Sasuke wasn't the only one unable to reflect her charms.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Naruto and Sasuke leisurely strolled by the park on their way home after school. Naruto was gabbing about something school related, probably something to do with the English teacher. Sasuke was only half paying attention as he recalled the rest of the day after lunch. He found out that Sakura had two classes with him in the afternoon. They had math and English together. Two of the most demanding subjects where he had to half pay attention and was now distracted full time.

All afternoon Sasuke had been trying to come up with a way to thank her that didn't make him look like a moron. Randomly saying 'Thank you' when she hadn't done anything was slightly weird, so that idea was out. He had been trying to come up with a way to say it but his mind kept drawling a blank, much to his annoyance.

"Oi, Sasuke. I'm talking to you," Naruto said, practically glaring at him. Sasuke took his head from the clouds and focused on Naruto and his angry face.

"What do you want, Dobe?" Sasuke asked. Sasuke was neither in the mood to listen to Naruto ramble on or have him sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

"You've been acting kinda strange all afternoon. What's up with you?" Naruto asked, both his hands behind his head. The sun was getting lower in the sky and was reflecting so much off of Naruto's blond hair that Sasuke couldn't look at him without feeling his retina's wanting to explode.

"Nothing," he said shortly. The Dobe was too observant for his own good. And he obviously wanted to stick his nose where it didn't belong. Just like normal.

"Liar. You've been acting weird ever since you ran into Sakura. It's like you've seen a ghost or something," Naruto said. _Or something_, Sasuke thought. But Naruto didn't stop there. He kept going. Persistent little Dobe. "Did you know her when you were a kid?"

Sasuke felt a shift in his heartbeat. Naruto was right on the money. He should be a private detective when they graduated from high school. Sasuke wondered how much to tell Naruto. On the one hand, Sasuke didn't want Naruto to know about his past. He didn't want to see the shock or the pity, for that matter. Though he doubted Naruto would give him pity, there was always the chance. He liked to keep the past in the past and assumed Naruto did too, as Sasuke had no idea where Naruto and Jiraiya had come from. He didn't ask, but Naruto also hadn't given information voluntarily.

But on the flip side, Sasuke hated lying to Naruto. He would either get caught in the lie by Naruto because he was just so nosy and persistent or one lie would start and then he'd need another one to cover it up. It was the story of his damn life. Sasuke had enough lies to last him a life time and he was still sometimes spinning a few to keep Kakashi from realizing that he lied about his family. Well half lied because his mother and brother are both dead.

Sasuke realized that Naruto was looking at him expecting an answer. He swallowed and tried to look at Naruto in the eye, but his hair was shining so much that his eyes hurt. Sasuke looked in front of him and decided to answer that way. _Damn it, stop rushing me._

"Yeah, I knew her when I was around eight. She visited my school," Sasuke said. Lying for nine years was getting kinda old. Maybe he'd feel better if Naruto knew the truth. "But I don't think she remembers me."

"Who the hell could forget you?" Naruto grinned.

"I was different when I was eight," Sasuke said shortly. Naruto looked over at him.

"Is that why you're a little off? Because she didn't remember you and it hurt your feelings?" Naruto mocked. The playful, fox grin on his face should have made Sasuke realize that Naruto was going to take this as a joke. Well, it was better than taking it seriously. For the mocking, Sasuke punched Naruto in the arm, saying 'Dobe' under his breath.

Naruto chuckled. "Chill out, Teme. I'm sure she'll remember you soon." Naruto continued to laugh as they arrived at their respective apartments. Naruto turned the key in the lock and went in. Sasuke stayed outside, looking at Naruto's door. _That's what I'm afraid of. _

With that, Sasuke unlocked the apartment door and walked into the empty living room. Kakashi and him tried to keep the apartment as clean as possible. The living room was clean as Sasuke walked in and put his keys in the glass dish beside the door. He walked into the kitchen where dishes where filling up the sink and he thought with a sinking feeling that someone was going to have to do them. And it was his turn. He hated dishes, Sasuke thought as he walked to the table and put his stuff down.

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he started pulling out dishes and organizing them. At least it would give him time to think. Once the dishes were organized he started running the water and filling it up with steaming water. Sasuke wet a rag and set to work. The hot water was turning his hands red as his mind kept wondering. To Sakura and his situation.

Even if Sakura did remember him, she didn't have his last name. Sasuke had gone over their conversation so many times in his head and he never told her his last name. She couldn't pin him to any of his lies, he realized. He could just tell her his fake last name and that his family died. The same lie that he told everyone else and she would have no reason not to believe it. People where so gullible that they'd believe anything he said.

Sasuke breathed a little easier. Now he wouldn't have to push her away after he thanked her. Even though he was still thinking of ways to thank her that didn't look suspicious, he could still have her company and not worry about her realizing that he ran away from an abusive father and is lying about his identity. Sakura would be left in the dark, just like everyone else. Sasuke swallowed. It was a depressing thought.

No one knew where he came from. Not even Kakashi, who had practically raised him. Guilt rose in Sasuke again. It was eating at him from the inside. Sasuke felt the urge, not for the first time, to tell Kakashi about his lies and finally come clean. But Sasuke would be sent back, as Kakashi never adopted him and wasn't really his legal guardian. Sasuke wasn't eighteen yet and could be sent back to that hell hole that he had lived for the first eight years of his life. Sasuke felt the dread pile his stomach as he thought back on the memories.

_Stop it. It's not going to help. _

Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to remove the dread that weighed down his stomach. Sasuke wasn't going back there. If he did, he would run away again. Sasuke had spent nine years building this new life and he wasn't going to throw it away on the off chance that he could lose it. It was too important for him to lose. Sasuke took a deep breath. The hot water wasn't stinging his hands anymore and it wasn't the steam from the sink that was making Sasuke sweat.

When he was eighteen, Sasuke had reasoned with himself. Sasuke would tell Kakashi that he lied on his eighteenth birthday. He might be mad or even pissed, but this way, he would be a legal adult and couldn't be thrown back to his father. There was security in that. Sasuke only felt like a coward when he knew that he didn't have enough courage to tell Kakashi the truth without some kind of legal security. He would confess to Kakashi first, as he had the right to know first out of everyone. Maybe later, when the moment was right, would he tell his friends his real last name. He'd tell Naruto though, soon after his eighteenth birthday.

Sasuke was jolted out of his thoughts as the front door opened. He looked up to the clock that was hanging over the doorway that led the hall. It was half past four; the normal time for Kakashi to be home. He heard Kakashi put his keys in the glass dish and footsteps the got closer. Sasuke turned half his body around to see Kakashi. He pushed the guilt away and kept his face blank.

"Now I don't have to remind you that it's your turn," Kakashi said.

"Just as long as when it's your turn, don't wait until we don't have any clean plates before you decided to do the dishes," Sasuke told him. The last time it was Kakashi's turn for the dishes, there had barely any plates to eat on. He heard Kakashi chuckle as he set stuff down on the table, just like Sasuke did.

"Consider it a punishment for your last math test," Kakashi said, sitting at the table and starting to organize papers. Sasuke continued with the dishes. He was almost done, but he could feel the dish-pan hands that he knew were going to annoy the hell out of him until they returned to normal.

"I got an A minus on that test," Sasuke argued, putting the last dish in the drainer.

"You slacked off," Kakashi scolded lightly. Sasuke could feel the burn of having Kakashi stare at his back with one eye. Sasuke picked up a dry towel and walked over to Kakashi who was done shuffling papers back and forth.

"What's it matter as long I have the grade. Have fun drying," Sasuke said, dropping the dry towel on the table in front of Kakashi. He picked up his book bag, which had been in his normal seat, and headed into the hallway to go to his room.

** -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Sakura laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Smells from dinner and the ramen shop beside her house were at odds with each other in her little space of a room. She had been staring at the ceiling for who knows how long, but not really seeing the ceiling. Instead she saw Naruto. Happy, carefree Naruto. She had missed him since she was eleven. They had spend six months as friends before they were ripped apart by her father's job.

There had been a lot of crying that day, when she told Naruto that she was leaving. She hadn't been able to tell him her address because, at the time, she didn't know it. Once her family had finally setting down in their new home, she wrote to Naruto. But the letter had come, saying that he was no long at this address. She had been broken hearted by losing her best friend.

Then, Naruto's face suddenly transformed into a darker, more brooding face. Sasuke Aoshi's face. It was a lie. She knew the eyes, dark pools of black that could suck her down forever. She knew the hair, so black it was nearly blue and defied gravity with the way it stuck up at odd places. She knew him and yet, his name told her that she was looking at a different person. Sasuke Aoshi was not the child she had met when she was eight years old.

The child she met had been Sasuke Uchiha. And Sasuke Uchiha had been for nine years. The murder unsolved, the father unmoved. Sakura hadn't known his last name. But she had seen his picture on the news three days after she had talked to him. The picture of a sullen boy, looking like he hated the world. She had been so devastated when she saw the picture and heard the news lady say that he had been killed and the murderer was no where in sight.

It had even been in the newspaper the next day. She had stolen that newspaper and hid it from her parents. That night she had cut out his picture, the same one that was one the news and kept it in her prized jewelry box. The box had a false bottom, one she discovered a few days after her mother gave it to her. Sakura looked over and saw her jewelry box sitting on her desk, along with other boxes on her desk that had yet to be unpacked and put away.

Sakura sat up and swung her feet over her bed. She stood and walked over to the box. She pressed hard on the side of the box near the bottom and heard a click. She didn't smile as she pulled out the bottom and looked at aging picture of Sasuke Uchiha. Sorrow washed over her as she looked at his picture. Ever since she had seen the news she had seen Sasuke every where she went. It was the boy who had his back to her or the person she just barely caught a glimpse of.

Maybe it was time to get rid of the picture. She had been chasing this ghost for nine years. It was in the past. It was her childhood dream to find out that he wasn't really dead. But that was just a dream. She had spent so little time with him, barely fifteen minutes and she had worried about him ever since leaving him. She shouldn't have left him. She should have stayed until he told someone that he was being abused. Then maybe he wouldn't have died. For the past nine years, she had wondered if his father had been the one that killed him.

It was possible. Sakura knew that when she saw it on the news as a kid and had cried for the rest of the night. Her parents couldn't figure out why she was crying, but they consoled her. It didn't help. But now, nine years later, she had bumped into someone who looked just like she imaged a seventeen year old Sasuke too look like. When he had said his name was Sasuke, her heart had skipped a beat. She shoved aside the thought that he could be Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha was dead, no matter how much this boy looked like him.

Sakura breathed in deep, trying to calm her nerves as she remembered meeting him, hearing of his death, and meeting his spitting image. Her heartbeat was in her ears and she couldn't hear anything but that. As she breathed, her heart slowed and she was able to think. To rationalize. Sasuke Aoshi was a different Sasuke. The name Sasuke wasn't a really popular, but it wasn't uncommon to run across two different Sasukes.

_Get a grip, Haruno._ _Let it go. Sasuke is dead and no amount of chasing can bring him back to life. You're holding on to something that you can't do anything about. _

Even the pep talk didn't help her. Sakura put a strand of pink hair behind her ear and shoved the false bottom closed and roughly set down the box. There was no need in working herself up when Sasuke Aoshi was not, absolutely not, Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura breathed in, nearly chocking on the combined smells of ramen from the shop next door and chicken, which her mother was cooking downstairs. Instead of dwelling on the past, Sakura thought to the future about what her and Naruto were going to do after school tomorrow.

"Sakura, dinner's ready!" her mother called from downstairs. Sakura, pulled from her thoughts so quickly she jumped, hit her hand on her desk.

"Ow! Coming, Mom," she called down, swinging her hand back and forth as if that would help ease the pain of her hand. As Sakura went down the stairs, she resolved to not think about Sasuke Uchiha. She would think about the life in front of her.

* * *

**A/N: I'm finding it hard to write Sasuke's point of view. I keep wondering if he's OOC and when you review, could you tell me if you think he is or isn't. Thanks, it'll help me. R&R, ta-ta for now. **


	4. Because It Rained

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief as the last bell rang throughout the school. The day had been uneventful. The only exception being lunch when Sakura brought over some female friends to sit with the rest of the guys at lunch. Poor Kiba hadn't known what to do with himself. It was rather entertaining to watch Kiba make an ass of himself three times within the span of twenty minutes.

That aside, even with Sakura in his school, Sasuke was able to move around like nothing was wrong or out of place. Pushing back his chair and ignoring the scraping sound, Sasuke hauled himself up and out of the chair. Naruto was shoving in book after book into this backpack next to Sasuke. He tilted his head as Naruto hurried to zip the zipper.

"Where are you going? You've never tried to leave this fast," Sasuke said to the rushing Naruto. The classroom was empty as Naruto picked up his book bag and walked to the door with Sasuke on his heels.

"I'm going to met Sakura. We're going to go to a café in town and catch up. Maybe eat some ramen after that," Naruto said as he walked out the door and into the hallway. He wasn't speeding down the hallway as fast as he could have, but Sasuke had to make the effort to keep up with him.

"Nice date," was his only comment. Sasuke didn't feel like talking to Naruto about a date with Sakura. It just put him in a bad mood.

"It's not a date, Teme. It's me and Sakura catching up on six years that we haven't seen each other," Naruto said. He paused at his locker and started turning the combination.

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke said, leaning against the lockers beside Naruto's locker. He was in no hurry to leave since he had detention after school from the most evil teacher to ever walk the Earth. The conversation stopped and Sasuke, who had been looking across the hall and out the window, felt a change in atmosphere. Slowly, Sasuke turned his head toward his friend. Naruto had the grin of sin plastered on his tan face and was starting to chuckle quietly. Startled, Sasuke took a quick step back.

"You sound just like a jealous boyfriend, Teme. And here I thought you were asexual," Naruto chuckled quietly, menacingly. Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch in discomfort. He took Naruto's locker door and slammed it shut.

"Shove it, you Dobe," Sasuke said. Naruto's laugh just became louder and louder as they walked down the hall to the main entrance of the school. As the door came into view, so did Sakura and then Naruto started running to her.

Over his shoulder, Naruto called, "See you later!" His hand was waving and when he caught up to Sakura, they exchanged a few words and left the school. Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned right down a hall and went into the detention room to suffer his own thoughts for the next hour.

Sitting in the chair closest to the door and in the back he put down his book bag and slumped in the seat. The other kids in detention he didn't know and didn't really feel like making conversation even if it did save him from this thoughts. Thoughts about her. Sasuke heavily put his head on the table with a thump. His forehead hurt now, and he was still thinking about Sakura.

At least he had been right. Sakura being in his life now made it perfect. He didn't want anything now that she was here, talking to him, smiling at him. Their conversation flowed as easily today as it did yesterday when he met her again after so long. The topics may have been generic but they flowed through them all easily until Kiba had interrupted. Damn Kiba.

But maybe Kiba's distraction had been a good thing. If Sasuke kept getting close to her like he wanted to, there was a definite chance that she could recognize him before he was ready. Last night he had resolved to tell Sakura after he turned eighteen, as well. It seemed like the only possible solution and it was the fairest thing he could come up with. They were in the middle of summer term and graduation would happen until next spring in March, but he turned eighteen in a little less than a month.

It was June twenty eighth and he would turn eighteen on July twenty third. Just thinking about it had his pulse speed up. He would be releasing all the lies on his eighteenth birthday. Sasuke rubbed his sweating palms on his uniform pants. Did he have the balls to own up to everything? To Kakashi, who had saved him and now was like a father/brother to him? To Naruto and his friends, who got him in trouble but had his back? And to Sakura, who was the reason he had this life?

It would be so much easier to never say anything. So much easier to not stop the flow where his life was going. But he couldn't do it. He owed them all the truth. It wouldn't be easy and they might have a hard time with it, but Sasuke refused to graduation with his lies still intact. Yes, he had the balls to own up to his lies and he would as the day to his eighteenth birthday crept ever closer.

Naruto dug into his bagel with strawberry cream cheese as Sakura sipped her iced tea. They had been here since school at let out at three this afternoon and Naruto was on his sixth bagel. They had talked about where her family had moved. They spoke about the places they'd been since they last saw each other. They spoke about how Sakura's letter had been sent back because Naruto had moved. They talked about nearly everything As Naruto finished the bagel and licked his finger of the access cream cheese, Sakura felt as if they had never been separated for six years.

It felt just like yesterday that Naruto was saving her from getting picked on or helping her skip class. In the noisy café, Sakura smiled a smile to herself as she sipped her tea through a straw. Naruto chugged the rest of his water and put in on the dark brown table top. They were in a private booth, near the back and was kept away from most of the noise up front by the register.

"I can't believe how much it feels like just yesterday that I was kicking kids' asses because they were picking on your forehead," Naruto laughed as he leaned back against the cushioned booth.

Sakura chuckled a little as well. "Yes, and then you would get suspended." She put her condensating glass on the coaster.

"It was worth it. I hope I won't have to do that. They won't suspend me at this school. They'll make me do community service," Naruto said with a shudder and recoiled facial expression.

"Heh, don't worry, Naruto. I had a black belt in karate now, so I can kick ass all on my own," she told him, no boasting or bragging necessary. Naruto leaned forward, shocked.

"You're serious?" he said, awe in his tone.

"Yep. I took my test last month and passed," Sakura said. She picked up her tea and ignoring the straw, drank it from the glass.

"Wow, I never would have thought you'd get trained in self defense," Naruto said. Sakura put down her glass and swallowed the tea.

"Dad made me, it wasn't my choice. So what about you? You and Sasuke kick ass around here on a regular basis?" Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows.

Naruto laughed. "Nah, unless we're kicking each other's ass. After I met Sasuke, I haven't really gotten into fights with anyone except him."

"How'd you meet him?" Sakura asked, spinning her straw in her glass. Naruto's face, which had been so animated before, now fell into a blank stare. Sakura began to feel uncomfortable with the stare.

"Don't tell me you like the Teme," Naruto said, monotone. Understanding, Sakura smiled and shook her head.

"Naruto, I just met him yesterday. I can't like him if I don't know him," she reasoned. Not that she didn't find Sasuke attractive. He was, and they had easy flowing conversation, but it's not like she was in love with the guy.

"No, you've met him before. Don't you remember?" Naruto said, head tilted to the side. _Someone's got their thinking cap on,_ Sakura thought with a laugh.

"I've never met him, trust me. I'd remember someone who can be that intense," Sakura assured him.

"No, the Teme told me that he met you when he was eight," Naruto muttered. Sasuke Uchiha's face flashed through her mind. _Dead. He's dead. _

"Well, I don't remember meeting him. He probably has me mistaken with someone else," Sakura said, drinking more of her tea. She downed the glass as Naruto stared her down with a "No way" expression.

"What?"

"He doesn't have you mistaken. How many girls with pink hair can he come across?" Naruto asked, sarcastically.

"Fair enough. But I still don't remember a Sasuke Aoshi," Sakura replied, trying to think back to when she was eight. The conversation died as the waitress came over and refilled Sakura's tea and Naruto's water. She left and Naruto took a drink.

"But did you meet a Sasuke?" Naruto asked eagerly. It bothered Sasuke that Sakura didn't remember him, Naruto just knew it did. Being friends with him for so long, Naruto could just tell without Sasuke having to say anything. So if Sakura did remember him then maybe Sasuke wouldn't act so weird.

"Yes, I did meet a Sasuke when I was eight," Sakura said. Naruto opened his mouth to reply but Sakura cut him off with, "But his name was Sasuke Uchiha. And he's dead now." Sakura looked into her glass and saw her liquid-y reflection. Naruto sensed the sadness in Sakura but didn't know how to respond.

"You were fond of Sasuke….Uchiha?" Naruto asked carefully. He didn't want to push Sakura, but he did want to know. Naruto reached for her hand but Sakura withdrew it from the table. Naruto refused to admit that it hurt. She wasn't letting him comfort her like she used to. Why?

"I'd only met him one time before he…died. But I was kind of fond of him after that meeting,"

Sakura confessed. There. It was out in the open. Now someone knew besides her. She felt her chest feel suddenly lighter now that she didn't have to keep Sasuke Uchiha to herself.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I didn't know," Naruto said, looking at the top of the table. He felt Sakura encircle his hand with her own. He looked up and saw her smiling at him. His muscles made him smile back.

"It's okay. It's not your fault, Naruto," she told him. Naruto felt strange. He had meant to comfort her, but instead, she had ended up comforting him. She had never talked about Sasuke Uchiha six years ago. Maybe she was still upset from it back then. The café suddenly darkened and Naruto and Sakura looked simultaneously out the windows. Storm clouds rolled in and a sudden crack of thunder could be heard in the distance.

"I hate to cut this short, but I think we should go before it starts to rain," Naruto said, getting up. He pulled out his wallet just as Sakura did. They laid a few bills down and walked out of the shop. Under the awning of the café, Naruto and Sakura hugged their goodbye and took off in different directions.

Sakura walked down the sidewalk and looked up at the sky. The clouds were almost black and she could smell the rain in the air. She was a few blocks from home and if the rain would hold out until she got inside today would be her lucky day. But the funny thing about luck was that it didn't like her. She wasn't two blocks from her house and lightning stuck. Then came the rain. It was pouring in sheets and she ran, getting drenched by the cold rain and running through the steam as the rain connected with hot asphalt.

She turned a corner at a run and ran into something really solid. And hard. She fell back but a hand caught her wrist and put her up right. She opened her eyes against the rain and saw Sasuke Aoshi looking down at her, rain water dripping off his gravity defying hair and into his face. Hell it was even dripping off his eye lashes. His really, really long, dark eyelashes. She blinked to get a hold of herself. Sasuke tugged on her arm and they were suddenly under an awning. He was staring at her with those intense eyes and she didn't know what to do… or say.

Sakura suddenly had an image of Sasuke Uchiha in her mind. She shook the image. Long lost people don't come back from the dead. And even though Sakura was a firm believer in that, this Sasuke was shaking her resolve and rocking her world. He looked so much like Sasuke Uchiha that they could probably pass for twins if he had still been alive.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Sakura laughed. Sasuke blinked, and cracked a smirk. It was just yesterday that they met by literally running into each other.

"Just can't help ourselves, I guess," was his response. Then Sasuke looked out to the storm. The storm that didn't seem to be going anywhere or lightening up anytime soon. It was hard to hear with the rain pouring around them. Sakura shivered. It caught Sasuke's eye.

"Look, let's get out of this rain. My house is down the street and to the right. If we run, it shouldn't take that long," Sakura suggested. She watched Sasuke in silence. He seemed to be having a hard time talking. Like he was battling himself for some reason. He looked ready to say no, but then just clenched his jaw and nodded with out looking at her.

Sakura nodded as well. "Follow me on three." She prepared to run. "One, two, three," She shouted and sprinted down the street. Sakura couldn't hear Sasuke behind her as the rain pummeled her, but knew he had to be. She crossed the road without looking and took a side street on the right. Passing two houses, a bakery, and a ramen shop, she finally slowed down and landed on her porch.

She turned around, shivering, and saw Sasuke with his hair plastered to his forehead, water droplets rolling down his jaw, and his clothes plasters to a very broad, hard body. He was what, seventeen? So why did he have to have such a good body? Sakura shivered again. He was looking at her with those dark eyes again and she felt compelled to stand there and stare into the depths forever. He was breathing hard, and his chest was rising and falling, his shirt sticking to his body so much that he might as well not have had it on at all. He was just so damn familiar.

The door suddenly opened and warmth surrounded Sakura's left side. Both her and Sasuke's head turned in the direction of the door and the woman standing just inside it. Sakura's mother had long pink hair and blue eyes. She was wearing an apron and had a smug of flour on her cheek as she looked from her daughter to the stranger. She smiled sweetly at them both, in welcome.

"Mom, this is Sasuke Aoshi. A classmate of mine. We're starting to become friends," Sakura made introductions. Sasuke looked uncomfortable for a second before he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Hello," was all he said. Sakura didn't know if he was being reserved or if he just didn't know what else to say. Her mother stepped out on the porch and shook Sasuke's hand.

"Hello, I'm Sakuya. I'm glad my daughter could make friends so easily," her mother said with a smile on her face. Sasuke seemed to relax a little. "Oh, well you two are soaked, come in and I'll get some towels."

Sasuke sort of looked like he wanted to back out now and just go home. Sakura tugged on his wet sleeve. He looked down at her and their eyes met. She stepped over the threshold, breaking eye contact, and Sasuke followed her through the door. They stood in the foyer on linoleum while their clothes and hair dripped on the floor. Sakura was glad that she put a black undershirt over her white uniform shirt. Before Sakura or Sasuke could make any kind of conversation, Sakuya came back with towels and some clothes.

She handed Sakura a towel and gave Sasuke some of her father's clothes along with a towel. They toweled off on the linoleum and when they were dry enough to walk on the carpet, Sakura went up to her room to change clothes and heard her mother give directions to the bathroom for Sasuke to do the same. She tried not to think about him getting nearly naked in her house, but failed. Miserably.

** -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

What the hell was he doing here? This day just went from bad to worse to crap in the span of two hours. First detention, where as his bored increased so did his bad attitude that earned him a second detention, then Kakashi called and told him to get bread from the store. After that the freak storm hit and he never even made it to the store. Finally, while running home in the freak storm, he bumped into Sakura. A very wet, pretty Sakura. But that was only worse. Crap came when he actually accepted the invitation to her house.

So he was in her bathroom, discarding his soaking wet clothes and putting on what looked to be her father's clothes. He should have bolted when they reached her porch. Come to think of it, he probably would have if Sakura hadn't tugged on his sleeve. And like a moron, he followed her without thinking. Pulling a white shirt over his head, Sasuke felt himself get more nervous as the time to exit the bathroom came down on him.

_Damn it, what's your problem? It's just nice hospitality. Cool it. _

It didn't help. His throat was dry as he exited the bathroom. The dining room didn't lose it's appeal as he walked into it a second time from the bathroom. Sasuke didn't know what to do, which was a very rare occurrence, when he heard voices in across the dining room and in the kitchen. Subtly, he took a deep breath to calm down and slow the rampaging heartbeat that didn't seem to want to quit. He carried his wet clothes with him because he didn't want to be rude and just leave them in the bathroom.

Sakura's mother came out of the kitchen and saw him standing in the dining room. She smiled at him and came closer. "I was wondering if you were done. Give me your wet clothes and I'll put them in with Sakura's in the dryer. Do you want to call your parents and tell them where you are? You can stay the night here. The wind is blowing so hard outside, I'd rather not have you walk home," she told him, taking his clothes and looking at him with motherly concern.

"Yeah, I should call Kakashi. And thanks for the offer, I don't want to intrude," Sasuke said politely. _And have Sakura recognize me and screw up the plan. _

"Kakashi as in Kakashi-sensei?" a voice came from the left. Sakura stood in the French doors that opened into the dining room. She was regularly dressed. Sasuke had seen her without a uniform before, but she had be eight at the time. Now, it was much more of a shock to see her in loose shorts and a fitting black t-shirt with a band name he didn't recognize.

"Yeah, that Kakashi. He's my guardian," Sasuke said. Sakura's eyebrows raised, but her mother caught his attention again before anything else could be said between them.

"The phone is in the kitchen, feel free. But I'd still rather not have you go out in this weather. It looks like it's getting worse," Sakuya said. She turned and went into the kitchen. Sasuke followed and he heard soft foot falls behind him so he assumed Sakura was following him too. In the corner of the kitchen, Sakuya threw his clothes in the dryer and started it while Sasuke looked around for a phone.

"It's on the wall, Sasuke," Sakura said behind him. He tried not to get annoyed that she was at his back and searched the wall. The sleek, silver phone was on the wall next to the stove. Sasuke made a beeline for it and listened hard to hear any movement Sakura could make.

Sasuke was never a fan of having someone at his back. Even if it was a girl. The only person he could stand at his back was Naruto. Nine years of looking over your shoulder and hiding a secret will do that do you. Also nine years of fear that he could be sent back to his father. That was hell in and of itself. A hell he didn't want to return to. Sasuke shook off the unease he was feeling and picked up the phone. It was a cordless and he didn't want to be on long in case the lightning gave him bad luck.

With the number dialed, Sasuke waited for Kakashi to answer. On the third ring he heard Kakashi say hello.

"It's me," Sasuke said shortly.

"Where are you?" Kakashi asked.

"I was caught in the storm. I'm at a classmate's house. She invited me over. I'll be home once the storm dies down," he said. Sasuke did not want to be stuck here all night.

"Well, that just might be all night. If you look at the weather channel it doesn't look like it'll give until early tomorrow morning," Kakashi said. Sasuke heard a weatherman in the background. _Damn it._

"They invited me to stay the night," Sasuke reluctantly volunteered. Kakashi jumped on it.

"You should take them up on it. I don't want you running all over town in a storm when you don't have to be," Kakashi told him. It was the few times that Kakashi had played parent for him recently. When he was younger, Kakashi was awkward with the parenting and as he grew up Kakashi became more relieved that he didn't need to parent so much. This was clearly not one of those times.

"No chance I can go home?" Sasuke asked. It was a cry of desperation on Sasuke's part. A part of him knew he wouldn't be going home tonight, but he could hope.

"No. Tell the family that I said thank you. And don't forget to be gracious," Kakashi warned, like he wasn't always gracious.

"Yeah, stop bugging me about it. I get it," Sasuke said. He knew manners, he didn't needed to be treated like a child.

"Hey, Sasuke, we're going to cook dinner, what do you like to eat?" Sakura said. Sasuke turned around and saw Sakura juggling a few cans while her mother looked in the oven. It was the first time Sasuke could smell brownies. They seemed to fill the air.

"Is that a girl's voice? Wait, you said the classmate was a she," Kakashi's tone was near astonishment. Near, but not quite. Sasuke knew how this was going to end. He'd been living with the pervert too long to not know.

"Bye, Kakashi," Sasuke said quickly.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't," Kakashi said just as quickly. Sasuke felt outrage over his facial expression as Kakashi chuckled.

"Bye, Kakashi," Sasuke said more firmly and hung up the phone before something half obscene could come from his guardian's mouth. Like he hadn't already thought about something obscene with Sakura. This idea was going to hell in a hand basket. While trying to keep Sakura from recognizing the truth, he was lusting after her like a teenage boy with no brains.

_Not. Good._

"I don't have a preference, Sakura," Sasuke said as he hung the phone on the wall and turned to look fully at her. She had set the cans on the counter by the stove and was look at each one, then picked up one and put it back on the shelf.

"Sakura, could you show Sasuke to the guest room?" Sakuya asked as she got out a huge pot from a bottom cabinet. Sakura nodded and gestured for Sasuke to follow her. He did and she led him through the French doors and up the stairs that were on his right. Once on the top landing, right and left were both directions you could go. Sakura went left and Sasuke passed an open door. With the small glimpse he got of it, it was unmistakably Sakura's room. But she led him down the hall further and opened a door to a plain room that didn't look like it was being occupied by anyone.

"We just moved in about a week ago and didn't have to time make it up," Sakura apologized. She let him in the room first and followed him. There was a bed up against the far wall and a nightstand next to it. A vanity with a mirror attached was on the right wall. Other than that, there was no other furniture.

"This is fine," Sasuke said shortly. _Childhood acquaintance. Childhood acquaintance. _The mantra wasn't working like it should have.

"This is kind of sudden, since we only met yesterday. I'm sorry if this is awkward," Sakura said. Sasuke, who had been looking at the room, turned to look at her.

"Is this awkward for you?" he asked. He really wanted to know. He may be feeling awkward, but he was damn good at not showing it. A blush came to Sakura's face and Sasuke didn't know if that meant it was awkward or he was just really blunt.

_She's really cute like that._

"It's a little awkward for me. I know this is going to sound stupid, but you look like someone I used to know," Sakura confided. Sasuke didn't think he could breath properly. She remembered him. She remembered Sasuke Uchiha. Part of him was elated and happy by her recognition. But another, more dominant, part of him was wary. Of course he reminded her of who he was nine years ago. Was he so naïve to think that she wouldn't connect the dots? But on the other hand she wouldn't accuse him of being a dead guy. But Sasuke never took chances, on anything, so he would stay wary until he turned eighteen.

"Is that who were you thinking of when you asked me if we've met before?" Sasuke said. Wow, he really could breath after all. He could even sound completely unaffected. But he was treading a dangerous edge, he knew, but he had to act normal and get her off this subject. He needed to find a safer subject. Though, he did feel curiosity about what she thought of him as Sasuke Uchiha.

"Yeah, I know it's kinda stupid. Anyway, sorry that we couldn't put on new sheets. Most of the stuff isn't unpacked yet unless it's from downstairs," Sakura apologized. Sasuke walked to stand in front of her, but he kept a polite talking distance. As if he needed any more temptation.

"It's fine. There's no problem. Thanks for letting me stay," Sasuke replied. Well, the subject change was easy. It was the curiosity part he needed to deal with now. Deal with as in extinguish and put it in the fiery flames of hell.

"It's fine. I'd be kinda worried about you if you were going home in the rain. Looking outside, it's kinda scary," Sakura said, motioning to the window. Sasuke turned and looked at the sheets of rain falling and a tree that wouldn't stop blowing in the wind. Any more wind and the tree wouldn't be standing.

"Are you scared of storms like this?" Sasuke asked. He could image an eight year old Sakura being scared of a big, bad storm. When Sasuke turned back to look at said girl, he saw her grin.

"Only at night," she said. Sasuke wasn't sure if she was joking or if she was actually being serious. Did it even matter?

Sasuke pictured Sakura huddling under the covers while lightning exploded out her window during the night. The image felt distasteful, so the answer was yes. Yes, it did matter that Sakura might be scared of a storm. But why did it matter? Sasuke couldn't come up with any reason why it should matter to him. Maybe it's his past connection with her.

Perhaps because she helped him and had been a catalyst to an event that changed his life, he was protective. It was possible. But did his feelings extend beyond protection? He was lusting after her, big whoop. But was he starting to feel more for her than gratitude and friendship? Sasuke couldn't breath with that thought. His emotions were taking him around some vomit worthy loops. He couldn't deal with this all at once.

"Hello! Earth to Sasuke," Sakura said, knocking on his forehead. Sasuke finally came up from drowning in his thoughts to see Sakura on her tip toes with her hand next to his face. He blinked and backed away from her on principal.

"Sorry," he said.

"I've been trying to get you're attention. Mom just yelled up and said dinner was almost ready," Sakura informed him. Sasuke swallowed and found his mouth suddenly dry. "Come on, let's go wash up."

At least he was saved the pressure of having to respond. Grateful, Sasuke followed her down the hall to the bathroom, where they washed up and headed downstairs.

** -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Sakura headed down the stairs and tried to glance back at Sasuke without him noticing. It wasn't working. However, he was starting to worry her. Sasuke didn't seem like the type to space off, like Naruto. He seemed like he was always in control, but upstairs he seemed to be in his own little shocked world. He came out of it looking like he had a revelation. What could he be thinking about?

Maybe it was something she said. Actually, it probably didn't even pertain to her at all. Sakura couldn't begin to go through the possibilities as she sat down at the dinner table and noticed that one person was missing. Sakura looked around and just saw Sasuke sitting on her left and her mom in front of her.

"Where's Dad?" Sakura asked. Her mother put the salad dressing back on the table.

"He said he was stuck in the storm and wasn't going to be home tonight. He's at a hotel. I'm sure he's just fine," Sakuya said, smiling. Sakuya was worried. Sakura could see it in her eyes. However, she let it go. The dinner was pleasant, the conversation was normal, and she learned more about Sasuke than she ever thought she would. She was surprised to know he was an orphan and Kakashi took him in. Sasuke's personality seemed to have a foundation, now.

After dinner, they ate brownies in the living while watching some mundane show on TV that her mother loved. The storm was kind of interfering but they managed. Sakura took a quick glance at Sasuke, who was politely listening to her mother talk about her favorite show. He looked….uncomfortable. Maybe it was the fact that this place was new and he hadn't been here before. But since she knew some of his past now, she didn't think that was the case.

She was going to guess that it was the family setting which he was in. He had Kakashi, but Kakashi didn't strike her as the family type of guy. If her father had been here, he probably would have called Sasuke on it and made him even more uncomfortable. Silently, she thanked God that her dad wasn't here to badger Sasuke. Interrupting her thoughts, Sasuke took a quick glance at her and held her gaze. Sakura felt her face light up like the fourth of July.

She was just caught staring at him. Her face felt hot enough to melt snow. Sasuke turned away and looked back to the TV with a slight smug look on his face that made her flush with anger, rather than embarrassment. How dare he get a smug look after he caught her staring at him? It wasn't like she was picturing him naked or anything. Well, she hadn't been before. Sakura felt her face heat even more than she thought possible.

Lightning crashed outside and Sakura flinched, forgetting her anger and embarrassment. Her heart started to pound. Thunder rolled in seconds after the lightning and she swallowed a squeak. She had been able to control her fear at the dinner table, but now she was starting to get shaky. Her mother turned off the TV and the only light was from a lamp that was on dim.

Sakuya declared that she was going to bed and left with a goodnight as she went up stairs. Sakura swallowed the nervousness and it went right into her stomach. Butterflies fluttered around there, and they refused to leave. Sakura looked up to see Sasuke's profile bathed in a partial warm glow of the lamp.

"Your mom is…nice," Sasuke said, breaking the silence. Sakura had figured that he'd be the type to enjoy the silence.

"She is. She's always been really chipper," Sakura said. Sasuke nodded. She figured he didn't have anything else to say. So they sat in silence for a minute when the electricity went out and the lamp, that had been keeping Sakura's fears at bay, diminished. She gasped out loud.

"Don't worry, it's just an electric outage. It'll be on in a few hours," Sasuke reasoned. He sounded so calm, so sure of himself. Sakura was shaking in her nonexistent shoes. As they were sitting on the couch and her mother had been between them, they weren't that far from each other.

Sakura's eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. She could see that Sasuke had thrown an arm on the back of the couch. Lightning flashed again and thunder followed. Sakura clamped her hands over her ears. She willed her fear to go away but it didn't. _Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it. _

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked. She could see Sasuke's silhouette looking for her. Sakura unclamped her hands over her ears, just for the sake of saving face. She had to leave now before Sasuke realized that she hadn't been joking when she said she was afraid of storms. However, her feet couldn't move, her legs couldn't push her body off the couch.

"Yeah?" Sakura said. It sounded shaky even to her. She swallowed and tried again. "What?" It was still shaky. She just couldn't get control of her voice.

"Are you all right?" Sasuke asked. Sakura could see him leaning forward. But the lightning exploded just then, momentarily lighting up Sasuke's calm face. Sakura squeaked and scooted across the couch towards Sasuke as the thunder shook the house and some glass rattled.

Sakura hid her face in Sasuke's chest and gripped the front of his shirt. The lightning came faster this time and the thunder was just as hard. She pressed against Sasuke even more, as if she wanted to melt into him. Sakura swallowed. Sasuke was warm. His chest radiated with it. His body was hard as well, but it was a smooth hard that she didn't mind. It was nice to be holding him. He felt so familiar and smelled so dark and dangerous.

Sakura backpedaled and realized what she was thinking. She had met this man yesterday, now she curling up against his chest. Sakura swallowed her fear and was about to push away from him when his arms came around her. His palms were settled on her upper and middle back. Their warmth was seeping into her shirt. Thunder rolled as the same time lightning hit and all thought of backing away from him ceased. He was her shelter for the night.

In the darkness, Sasuke held Sakura on the couch. She was gripping his shirt so hard that felt her nails dig into his chest. But if Sakura would have looked up and there had been a source of light besides the fleeting lightning, Sakura would have seen a small pink dusting across Sasuke's cheeks.

* * *

**A/N: I had originally planned for this chapter to go in to the morning, but it became too long, so I'm splitting it in two. Remember, should there be any OOC-ness, please let me know. Sasuke's still a hard one to write. **


	5. Summer: Begin

The rain was pounding on the windows. The lightning was shockingly bright and the thunder was rattling the glass object in the house. The lights were nonexistent with the power out and the darkness seemed to be crawling like a life force in the room. Shadows jumped at the lightning's beck and call. It was dark, creepy. Sakura was just frozen in the room, sitting on the couch. She clung to Sasuke for dear life. Her jaw was clenched so hard it hurt and her hands were curling around Sasuke's shirt so hard that they were becoming stiff.

In the morning, she would reprimand herself and tell herself what a child she had been. However, at the moment, she couldn't think of much besides the feeling of being next to Sasuke and almost feeling safe. He almost drove away her fear. Almost.

The lightning cracked again. Sakura suppressed a whimper but she did move closer to Sasuke. It was an involuntary move and now she was completely squashed against his hard body as he held her to comfort her. She never would have guessed that he would be one to comfort. She would have gone for him being clueless when it came to comfort. Surprise, surprise. Lightning lit up the sky again and Sakura realized that distracting herself with analyzing Sasuke's personality wasn't going to help her win against her fear.

"Sakura," Sasuke called. His mouth was near her ear. She could feel his breath on her skin and move strands of her hair. She shivered, fighting back the blush and fear that was at war inside her. And as always, it seemed fear was winning.

"Hm?" she sounded, not really trusting her voice not to shake.

"We should go to bed. If you sleep, you'll feel better," Sasuke whispered.

"I'm not sure…I can move," Sakura said, mouth barely moving from how tense her body was.

"I'll take you to your room. Hold on," Sasuke requested. He then picked her up under her knees and supported her back with his other hand. Sakura squeaked and but didn't move. She was too tense to move, she needed a really hot bath to loosen her up. As it was, she was still clinging to Sasuke's shirt with no intention of letting go.

Carrying her as if she weighed nothing, Sasuke walked out of the living room and into the main hallway. The stairs that were opposite the door were dark and had no light. Sasuke didn't hesitate as he went up them in complete darkness. There were no windows, but he went up them like it was effortless. And maybe it was effortless to him. After all, Sakura didn't really know much about Sasuke.

Once on the top landing, Sasuke turned left and walked into Sakura's room. She couldn't see much besides outlines and shapes of objects in her room. Lightning struck again. Sakura took in a quick breath. Slowly, Sasuke walked her to her bed and laid her down on it. Sakura knew she should let go of his shirt, but her fingers weren't responding to her brain's command. Sasuke took one of her hands in both of his and peeled off her fingers, one by one. He did the same to the other hand.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sasuke asked. Sakura felt like a child, her embarrassment was starting to equal her fear, pushing the attraction she was feeling to the side.

"I'm fine. You can go back to your room," Sakura said, lips barely moving. Her hands now clutched the bed sheet in a death grip.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked. She wasn't going to make him sleep in the same bed with her. Even though she really, really wanted him to. However, that would be even more embarrassing come morning. And it was already pretty embarrassing. She had suffered through nights like this alone before, she would do it again. She was determined to not ask him to stay with her.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Go on," Sakura said. Sasuke nodded and walked out of the room. He glanced back at her as he left. Sasuke only saw her outline, it was too dark to see much else from this far away. He left her door open, for which she was thankful and she assumed that he was headed to his room.

Sakura looked out her window at the pouring rain. She shivered and then grabbed the blanket to cover herself up with. In the morning, this would be laughable. However, as the lightning and thunder mixed together in the night, she was glad that she hadn't wet her pants. Getting enough control of her tense body, she threw the blanket over her head and began to sing under her breath, to distract herself.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

After putting Sakura to bed, Sasuke lay on his back, staring at the dark ceiling. It wasn't the storm that was keeping him awake. It was Sakura. It was how she looked so vulnerable as she clung to him. It was him trying to fight the attraction he was feeling for her. It was him trying to push aside that guilt and knowledge that he lied to her and was still lying to her. Hell, it was a lot of things that were keeping him awake.

The vulnerability and the attraction, he could fight and brush it off for a little while longer. But the guilt was harder to get rid of. After all, he owed Sakura this life he had. She had been his catalyst to run away from his father. Everything he had now, it was because she had influenced his life. Without her, he didn't know what he would be, who he would be. It was something scary to think about.

He would have liked to think, that he would have turned out like this even if he still lived with his father. But he knew that wasn't true. The influence and lessons Kakashi had taught him were a big part of who he had become. Not to mention Naruto, who was very similar to himself. They had shared past experiences and supported each other when the other needed it. Sasuke took in a deep breath, trying to remove all guilt.

Slowly, as Sasuke imaged how he would tell his friends and Kakashi about his lies, the darkness came over him. He woke again in dream world. In his dreams Kakashi and his friends had forgiven his lies. Then in another dream, they hadn't. He had been alone then, more alone than he had ever been in his life. He stayed in that dream until he finally entered the deepest of sleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In the morning, Sasuke woke up to birds chirping and sunlight on his face. For a second he thought that he was dreaming he was in some sort of Disney movie. Then he cracked open an eye and saw the barren room that Walt Disney would refuse to have in his movies. Sasuke lifted himself off the bed and his foot moved something at the foot of his bed. He looked down and saw his uniform cleaned, dried, and pressed at the foot of the bed. Color Sasuke impressed. He got off the bed and changed into his navy blue uniform, thankful for Sakura's mom.

His door had been shut, when he knew he left it open last night. It had probably been Sakura's mother who shut it. Shrugging his shoulders, he trudged out of the room and went past Sakura's room. The door was shut as well, so he didn't know if she was awake or if she was still sleeping. Turning the corner to go down the stairs, he ran into Sakuya.

"Oh, Sasuke. Good morning. I left an extra toothbrush in the bathroom next to your room, if you were wondering. I just came up here to wake up Sakura," Sakuya smiled. Sasuke looked behind him to see Sakura's closed door. He looked back at a smiling Sakuya.

"Thanks. And thanks for the uniform," he told her. If possible her smile grew, making Sasuke a tad bit uncomfortable. He wasn't used to all the smiling faces in the morning. Kakashi never smiled in the morning, he was barely coherent until after he ate breakfast. Which Sasuke had never seen. After living with Kakashi for nine years, he would think that he would see Kakashi eat breakfast on a school day, but he never had. Even the night he came to live with Kakashi, he had been so distracted that he hadn't see the scar on Kakashi's face. But he had seen it on several other occasions.

"You're welcome," Sakuya said to him and walked past him. She was around Sakura's height, he noticed. Sasuke shook his head of the thought and went around the upstairs and found the bathroom. He quickly brushed his teeth and while he couldn't find a comb, he didn't really need to. His hair always stuck up at odd ends and a comb wouldn't fix that, so he left it alone. Walking out of the bathroom, he didn't see a soul, so he assumed, Sakura didn't wake up noisily.

Downstairs, he didn't see anyone either. He was starting to wonder if he was late and Sakura had already left for school. Maybe she wanted to avoid him after how she behaved last night. Sasuke shook the line of thought and entered the dinning room, then turned left into the kitchen. Mother and daughter was sitting at the table by the window. Sakura was eating toast while Sakuya was reading the morning paper. Both looked up at seeing him come in.

"There's another piece of toast in the toaster, Sasuke, that has your name on it," Sakuya said, before she turned back to her paper.

"Thank you," he said shortly. He was really tired of saying thank you so much. It's not that he wasn't thankful, he really was thankful, but all the stuff they were doing for him was making him even more uncomfortable. He suddenly wanted to leave, immediately.

Shaking off the feeling, Sasuke went over the toaster and pulled out the toast. Sasuke was surprised that the toast really did have his name on it. It was spelled in cursive with peanut butter. Sasuke twitched a little. Did families really do this for each other or was it just this one? He had to admit that it was a little weird. He wasn't really used to someone going to so much effort on his behalf. He was beginning to feel unnerved. The sudden urge to leave was rushing back.

"Didn't Sakura do a great job of writing your name?" Sakuya asked, smiling. Sasuke vaguely wondered if there was anything that didn't prompt her to smile.

"Yeah," Sasuke said after only a little hesitation. He glanced at Sakura, but found her looking at everything except him. Mentally, Sasuke sighed. She was going to avoid him.

"We need to get going, Mom," Sakura said, standing. Sasuke was still standing by the toaster, half way through his toast. He looked at the clock. Yes, it nearly was time for them to leave.

"Alright, have a good day, Sakura. It was nice to meet you, Sasuke. Come back again," Sakuya requested. Sasuke nodded.

"Thank you for having me," he said. There was no way he was coming back anytime soon. This house was making him too uncomfortable with the family closeness they had going on.

Sasuke followed Sakura to the main foyer where their shoes and book bags were. She still wasn't looking at him, or speaking to him directly. It was irking Sasuke but he felt no need to say anything. She'd get over it in her own time, and if not, he'd just make her get over it. They grabbed their stuff and went out the door.

Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets, ready for a silent walk to school. He ate the toast hands free as he walked down the street, a little in front of Sakura. Suddenly, before they even turned the corner, Sakura's hand came down on his arm and she held him in place. He half turned back to look at her, with toast in his mouth. Sasuke saw a light blush touch Sakura's cheeks but decided against mentioning it.

"About last night," Sakura started. Chuckles suddenly erupted beside them. The people walking on the street beside them were drawling their own conclusions as to what 'last night' meant. Sasuke put the rest of the toast in his mouth and swallowed as he dragged Sakura out of the middle of the sidewalk.

"I'm really sorry about clinging to you. I didn't mean to but I'm really bad about storms, and I didn't mean to put you in a weird position," Sakura apologized. Her face was getting slightly more pink, but she held his gaze nonetheless.

"It's fine. I get it," Sasuke shortly answered. She was having a hard time talking about this, he could tell, so the sooner they got it over with, the better off they where. Short responses would accomplish that.

"Really?" Sakura asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, really. I understand," Sasuke said. He turned to leave but Sakura grabbed his arm again. He vaguely wondered why she touched him so much. Then he realized that her touching him wasn't all that unpleasant.

"Um, can you do me a favor?" Sakura asked. She was still looking him in the face. Sasuke was guessing that it was hard for her to keep up eye contact this long, especially when they were talking about a very embarrassing topic.

"Depends," Sasuke told her. What could she even want? What more could she have on her mind now that she apologized?

"Will you keep last night between us? It was really embarrassing and I'd rather not have people know about it," Sakura requested. Her hand was still trapping his arm, Sasuke realized. He also realized that it wasn't as unpleasant it could have been. He rather liked it when she invaded his personal space.

"Yeah," he told her. That wasn't so bad. He hadn't planned on telling anyone, anyway. It would be kind of hard to bring it up in a conversation.

With that said, the walk to school was still silent, but it was a friendly silence that Sasuke didn't mind. He had them with Naruto a lot, when the blond wasn't talking his ear off. How Naruto could talk about nothing for ten minutes straight was beyond him. It wasn't that long before they reached the school. Sakura told him that her first class was on the third floor, while his was on the first. At the stair way, they said their goodbyes to each other and went separately to class.

In the class room, even though it was so early in the morning, the noise level was too loud for Sasuke's liking. The teacher wasn't in the room and the students were taking time to socialize. Conversation was all around him. Then Sasuke heard his name being called over the commotion. Sasuke saw Naruto waving for him to join their group. Neji and Shikamaru were both suffering Naruto's hyperness so early in the morning. Sasuke almost felt sorry for them.

Walking in between the desks, Sasuke sat his stuff down on the floor and leaned against the desk. Neji and Shikamaru were sitting while Naruto was standing and waving his hands. Even though, Sasuke felt mildly annoyed, the sight calmed him a little from the warm fuzziness Sakura's house had. It was a relief to be around Naruto's normal hyper-activeness. It was something he knew how to handle.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Where were you this morning? I didn't see you on the way to school, I thought you were skipping," Naruto said, his voice projecting throughout the class. No one took notice though, since they were wrapped up in their own conversations.

"You're like a wife wondering what her husband was doing since he got home late," Shikamaru said lazily. His eyes were barely open and, Sasuke would guess, barely focused as well. Neji chuckled at the insult. Naruto hmphed. He was too comfortable with his sexuality to be tripped up by being called Sasuke's wife.

"Well, if he was going to skip, then he should have called us so we could have fun and not rot in this hell hole while he goes out and dances around in joy because he's not in school," Naruto said, arms crossing over his chest. An image of himself dancing in joy ran through Sasuke's brain, then it stopped immediately because he couldn't picture it. Sasuke dancing in joy wasn't something that was possible. His brain refused to conjure up the mental image because that's how impossible it was.

"I got caught in the storm last night, I didn't make it home," Sasuke said, sitting at his desk, facing Naruto. Neji and Shikamaru sat in front of them, so the four of them had their little corner in the back by the window.

"What did you do? Spend the night at a store or something?" Neji asked, resting his chin in his palm. Shikamaru had half way woken up and was focusing his eyes on him.

"I ran into Sakura and spend the night at her house," Sasuke told them. He wasn't going to tell them about how afraid she was of storms, but he wasn't going to lie to them by saying that he had spend the night in a local shop.

"You work fast," Neji observed, eyebrows raised. Naruto was sputtering in horror at the thought of Sasuke spending the night at Sakura's house.

"What did you do to her?" Naruto demanded. There was a fire in his eyes that reminded Neji of Lee when he got riled up.

"Nothing," Sasuke told him, staring blankly at the blond. Naruto was sputtering again as, Sasuke assumed, his mind was imaging all the horrid thing he did(not do) to Sakura. Naruto shook his head and laughed nervously.

"Of course, you wouldn't do that. You haven't known Sakura for that long," Naruto said, looking away from Sasuke. He raised an eyebrow at Naruto.

"I didn't do anything to Sakura," Sasuke said. He refused to put 'that she didn't want me to' on the end of that sentence because it wouldn't be fair to Sakura. But it would have been fun if he could have baited the blond just a little bit. Something told Sasuke that he'd need to find another subject to bait Naruto with, though.

Before the conversation could continue the teacher walked in the door as the bell rang and the class settled down to hear the lecture, which opened with a reminder about the end-of-term exams. Sasuke was only half listening to Japanese history as he twirled his pencil around his fingers. It wasn't long before Naruto flicked him a note and throughout the whole class, he interrogated Sasuke about what happened last night at Sakura's house. Because they had done this so many times, they were never caught by the teacher. And if the teacher did notice, he didn't care.

The morning passed by quietly and without incident, as long as you count Naruto belching in the middle of a chemistry lab an incident. Nothing caught fire, so Sasuke thought that wasn't an incident. It was finally lunch time and Sasuke was looking forward to not thinking. He was getting annoyed with all the thumbs up he was receiving from some guys and the glares he was receiving from some other guys. It seemed to have gotten around that Sasuke spent the night at Sakura's house. Oh, well, he didn't care about gossip.

In the lunch room, the buzz of conversation never died. As Sasuke and Naruto walked over to their table, that now had a few more girls sitting at it than he remembered, Sasuke over heard the latest rumor going on about Sakura and himself. One that would have made him choke on his saliva if he had been anyone else. One that did make Naruto choke on his saliva.

"You didn't really have sex with Sasuke in that storm, did you?" the blonde, mouthy one said. Sasuke thought her name was Ino, but he was never good with names. Sakura promptly spit out the water she had been drinking and it went all over Kiba, who was sitting opposite her.

"How did that one even get started?" Sakura asked. Her face wasn't even flushing, so Sasuke gave her points for that. Ino shrugged her shoulders.

"Either way, ignore them. Rumors aren't important. Let people think what they want," Sasuke told her, as he and Naruto sat down at the table. This was kind of his fault that everyone knew he spent the night at Sakura's, but it wasn't his fault this was blown out of proportion.

"Yeah, I think I'll take Sasuke's side and just say 'Whatever'," Sakura agreed. Naruto looked at Sakura like a puppy from across the table.

"Don't tell me the Teme defiled you, Sakura," he exclaimed, sniffling. He was getting over dramatic. Sakura laughed at his facial expression and grabbed his hand.

"Sasuke didn't defile me," she told him. He perked up and looked almost normal. Tsh, Naruto should have taken his word for it, Sasuke thought. After that the table quieted down and they were able to eat lunch with a sense of normality. Half way through lunch the quiet, shy one, whose name Sasuke didn't remember, got their attention.

"After the final exams are over with and summer begins, my father has a villa on the beach that we could use for summer vacation," the girl said. She was poking her fingers in a nervous manner.

"She's right. I asked my uncle if we would be allowed to use it for a few weeks this summer and he agreed," Neji said. Ah, yes, Neji and the shy girl were cousins. Now if only Sasuke could remember her name. Hina…Hita…Hinata! That was it. Hinata was Neji's cousin that he used to not like. Now he was as protective of her as a brother.

"Wow, Hinata, that'd be awesome!" Naruto said excitedly. Said girl blushed and poked her fingers together more rapidly.

"The only cost would be a train ticket to get there. From the train station, it's a short walk to the villa. It has a private beach as well," Neji said. Hinata nodded. Sasuke figured that being looked at by Naruto this long was going to cause the girl's head to explode. And what was worse, Naruto was looking at her like she was sick.

"Hey, Hinata, do you have a fever? Your face is really red," he pointed out, oblivious and clueless. Sasuke raised his fist and hit Naruto upside the head. He was surprised when Sakura mirrored his action at the same time. He caught her gaze. She smiled at him. He felt one side of his lips curve in return.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Naruto shouted, holding his sore head. The moment was broken as he looked down at a hunched over Naruto.

"For being a dobe," Sasuke told him. Naruto turned in his chair toward Sasuke and raised a fist.

"What do you know, you stupid Teme? I was only asking because I was concerned," Naruto defended. Before Sasuke could reply to that, Kiba spoke up.

"Sorry, Hinata, Neji. My family's going to the Mountains all summer break," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm unable to go as well," Lee said. "My family has made plans too. I'm sorry."

To Sasuke's surprise, Shino and Choji declined as well because Shino's family was going on a cruise and Choji's was going to visit the world and review restaurants as part of his parents' job. When it was all said and done the only ones able to go were Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto, himself, Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten.

Now that they all had something to look forward to, Sasuke's little sleep over at Sakura's had been forgotten. At least by their friends. When everyone's parent consented and Hinata's father approved of the people going, excitement was starting to hit home. That week passed incredibly fast with everyone cramming for exams that would begin the following week.

Exam week also went by fast. Each individual exam taking up most of the school day and wearing out students. However, the excitement grew as the days counted down to deparature day. Preparations were being made, train tickets were being bought and bags were being packed for the two week vacation by the beach. The villa would be ready a few days after school was out for summer break. Hinata's father insisted on cleaning and airing it out before anyone set foot into it, so Neji and Hinata went a few days ahead of them to take over the cleaning.

Three days after school ended, Sasuke found himself on a train with Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten. He was glad that he'd be able to get out of the house for two weeks and not spend it cooped up in the apartment with Kakashi. Normally, he would have gotten a summer job, but he figured he could get one after the vacation. As Sasuke looked out the window to see blue ocean, he realized he was almost giddy about this trip.

And when Sasuke got back, it would be July twenty first. Just in time to celebrate his eighteenth birthday and come clean about his real name. Sasuke felt his almost giddiness vanish in a fit of nerves. After this vacation, he was coming clean.

* * *

**A/N: School starts tomorrow for me, so I wanted to get this up before then. It's not as long as would have liked it, but I needed to get them out of school and into the summer swing when Sasuke's birthday comes up. The next two, maybe three chapters will be about them at the villa, I want to get in some cute SasuSaku scenes. **


	6. Vacation Started

"I thought Hinata and Neji were supposed to pick us up," Ino said to everyone. They were standing outside the train station in the middle of the woods. The train tracks ran right through the forest.

After the long train ride, they had gotten off at their stop in the middle of dense woods. Sasuke couldn't even see an ocean anywhere. There was no ocean breeze or salty smell, so how were they near the villa, which had a private beach? The wind tussled Sasuke's hair and he could detect no smell of salt. The only thing they had to look at to know they weren't in the middle of nowhere was a small dirt road and the train tracks.

"They said the villa was in walking distance from the train station, and we did get off on the right stop," Sakura told them, looking around. Sasuke could see she was trying to smell salt off the air too. When they had arrived at their stop, everyone seemed so excited and spirits were high, but now those spirits were crashing down and crumbling around them.

"When Neji says walking distance, he really means a mile," Naruto said with a sour looking face at the train as it chugged down the train.

"What?" Ino screeched. "I came here to relax, not to walk a mile to the villa while I'm all hot and sweaty!"

"Calm down, Ino. It's not like walking a mile would kill you," Shikamaru told her, with one eye closed. He had slept almost the whole way there on the train. However, Sasuke knew Shikamaru hadn't really been sleeping the whole way. Whenever Ino had gotten really excited and started to talk too loud, he had flinched.

"Are you trying to say I'm fat?" Ino glared at him. Sasuke heard Tenten smack her forehead. Well, this wasn't starting off to be the best vacation in the world. Before Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something stupid again, they heard voices calling their names.

"There they are," Sasuke told everyone as Hinata and Neji were walking up the opposite way everyone was looking. The whole grouped turned and the girls, including Tenten, gave a little sound at the sight of Hinata and Neji. Sasuke couldn't decided if it was giggle or a squeal. Hinata started walking faster and the girls left their luggage to meet Hinata in the middle. All at once there was high pitched voices and rapid talking that was going too fast for any of the guys to hear or decipher.

"You've been saved," Naruto said, patting Shikamaru on the back. It was more like a solid hit, Sasuke could hear it. Shikamaru coughed a little and had the decency to look like he was embarrassed. The guys walked over to the girls, meeting Hinata and Neji by the group of girls.

"Everything's set up, let's stop wasting time here," Neji told everyone. The girls stopped talking and looked at Neji, then smiled and went to get their bags. _How can they talk so much, they saw Hinata three days ago, _Sasuke thought.

Everyone had gathered up their luggage and Neji and Hinata started to lead them down the road. The road was just dry dirt and each other their footsteps created a poof cloud around their feet. Sasuke was glad that it hadn't rained in the last few days or they'd be walking in mud. The road was well kept, now that Sasuke looked closer. There were no ruts in the road and all the vegetation was kept cut and off the edges of the road.

"So how far until we get to the villa, Neji?" Ino asked. She shifted the two bags she had on her shoulders. They were probably digging into her shoulders.

"After we go up that little hill, we'll curve to the right. The driveway to the villa is right after that curve," Neji told her, complete with a point to the hill they were walking up. The group looked at the hill. It didn't look so bad, it wasn't that tall, so maybe this wouldn't be so bad. However, as they drew closer to the hill, Sasuke could that while it wasn't tall, it was steep. Scarishly so.

Naruto was determined and started the hill at a run. Hinata had told him not to do it, but he didn't listen. Not half way up the hill, Naruto tripped over his own feet and rolled back down the bottom where Neji and Hinata had stopped the group. They had known Naruto was going to fall back down the hill. Straightening up, Naruto looked at the hill again.

"Okay, let's try again," Naruto shouted and was about to run up again. Hinata grabbed his arm before he took off. He looked back at her. Quickly, she released his arm, face flushed.

"Naruto, the hill's really steep, you'll trip again. Let's just walk up it," Hinata suggested. Naruto looked at her and then broke out in a grin and patted her on the head.

"Okay, Hinata," Naruto said. He led the way up the hill. As Sasuke started, he realized how steep the hill was. It had to be at a seventy or seventy-five degree angle. How did any car make it up this hill when it rained.

"Hey, can cars get up here?" Sasuke asked. Everyone was panting by now, but Sasuke didn't want to wait until they got to the top to ask. If he did, he might have to wait until night fall.

"Yeah, some can. But in the winter, there's no way they do. Some can get up after it rains but it takes a lot of effort," Neji told him, panting a little. Everyone in this group was in shape and yet this hill was making Sasuke's lungs burn.

Sakura was walking beside Sasuke and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura trip just like Naruto. Quickly, Sasuke slid an arm over her waist and clamped her to the side of his body. They were half way up, he didn't want Sakura to have to start all over again. Sasuke grounded his feet and stood steady as Sakura got her balance back. She gripped his shirt as he held her and Sasuke was just beginning to realize that her nails were a little uncomfortable.

She let go of him. As she moved, Sasuke smelled cherry blossoms. It was an effort for him to swallow as his mouth at gone dry and his heart was starting to be harder than already was, thanks to the hill. She stood on her own for a moment, getting her balance back and then smiled at Sasuke.

"Thanks, Sasuke. I would have fallen back to the bottom if you hadn't caught me," she said.

"No problem," he told her and shift his bags.

"Hey! Hurry up guys! We don't have all day!" Naruto said waving at them. The group had progressed higher while he had been helping Sakura. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged an exasperated look and started up the hill to catch up. It didn't take as long as Sasuke would have thought. Maybe that little stop while helping Sakura recharged him.

Five minutes later the group was at the top of the hill, panting and catching their breath. The leveling out of the hill came as a relief to Sasuke. If anyone needed to be tortured, he knew just how to do it. At the top, he shrugged off his huge duffel bag and left it on the ground, not caring if dirt got on it. Everyone, Sasuke noticed, had done the same, except for Neji and Hinata who didn't carry any bags.

"There's the curve," Hinata said, pointing. The group looked and saw the curve was on level ground, thank God. Sasuke straightened up and hefted his bag on his shoulder again.

"Let's go then. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get on the beach," Sasuke said. He started walking. Neji and Naruto were the only ones that kept up. The others lagged behind. The buzz of conversation came from behind him, but Sasuke couldn't make out what anyone was saying.

"Hey, Neji, do you have a dock that we can jump off of?" Naruto asked, eagerly.

"You'll hit your head if you jump off a dock," Sasuke said. He wasn't exaggerating. Sasuke had seen Naruto hit face first when jumping into a body of water. It wasn't the prettiest thing in world with Naruto's blood going everywhere and Sasuke trying to stop it from flowing.

"That was one time," Naruto defended.

"Three, actually," Sasuke responded, counting them mentally.

"We do have a dock, but the water is rocky under it so you can't jump off without killing yourself. You can only fish," Neji said. Naruto wouldn't be able to kill himself then, Sasuke felt better about this beach.

"So we can catch fish and eat them for dinner," Naruto suggested, hand gripping his stomach, which gargled. The girls behind them laughed. Shikamaru, who was behind the girls, smirked as well.

"You ate not even an hour ago, Naruto," Sakura said, smiling. Sasuke's gut twisted at her smile. He knew that smile on an eight year old Sakura. _Damn it._ At this rate, he wasn't going to last two weeks without doing something stupid.

"I know, but I'm still hungry. They go stingy on the snacks when you ride the train," Naruto complained.

"We can eat when we get to the villa. Then Neji and I can show you guys around," Hinata suggested. Naruto grinned back at her while walking forward.

"That'd be great, Hinata," he said. Sasuke agreed with Naruto. Food sounded heavenly, at the moment. The word 'eat' even perked up Shikamaru in the back, who might as well have been sleep walking. Sasuke wondered if he cracked his eyes open so he wouldn't run into anything or if he just closed them and didn't care about running into anything.

They rounded the corner and saw a small, gravel drive off to the right of the dirt road. Sasuke was starting to finally feel relaxed. They were almost there and walking wasn't necessary anymore. Sakura came up beside him as they turned right and walked on the crunching gravel under their feet. He was very aware of her. He could smell her shampoo, feel her body heat, feel her presence. The extent to which he was aware of her was starting to scare him. She was too close, and if he didn't do something soon, he'd reach out and touch her. Sasuke tried to get some more distance in between them. It didn't work, Naruto was stuck on his other side and there was no way he could get away from her and have it be subtle.

So Sasuke suffered in silence and shoved his hands in his pocket to restrain them from reaching out to her against his will.

The drive wasn't that long. However the endless row of trees on both sides made it seem like it would go on forever. As they walked farther, Sasuke saw a white structure in between the row of trees. It got bigger as they got closer and upon closer inspection it looked more like a mini mansion than a villa. The walls were white, edges trimmed with an off white color. The front porch wrapped around one side of the large first floor and there were separate balconies for each window on the second story.

The railing for it all was done in shiny silver and the windows were so clean that Sasuke could see his reflection in them from the main entrance. There was a small grassy yard around the house, but from what Sasuke could see, the circled driveway took up most of the grass space. The closer they got, the louder the girls behind Sasuke got. Sakura being the exception, as she was walking next to him, looking up in awe at the villa. She looked like a kid in a candy shop. Sasuke's lips curved up at her expression.

As if sensing someone looking at her, Sakura turned to him and he just managed to wipe the tell tale smile off his face before she saw. She wasn't discouraged at his, probably less than stellar, expression. She smiled up at him, warmly. Something in Sasuke's stomach contracted. He ignored. Well, tried to ignore it.

"Whoa, this is amazing," Naruto exclaimed. Sakura's attention turned to Naruto. She spoke across Sasuke.

"Yeah, it really is. I can't believe this is just a vacation house," Sakura said. "What does your normal house look like?"

"It's very similar, only less white," Hinata answered, walking ahead to led them into up the rest of the drive way. The group followed and their heels clicked on the white, shiny stairs. The white doors were wide open and as the group stepped over the threshold, the living room area came into view. The floor was dark hardwood, with neutral colored furniture and a fire place to right side of the room.

Hinata led the group down a hallway while Neji went into the kitchen to make some drinks for everyone. The walls were also white and had landscape and seascape paintings hung throughout the hallway. Hinata opened the first door on the right.

"Sakura, Ino, you two can stay in this room, it over looks the ocean," Hinata said. Sakura and Ino stepped into the room muttering things about how sweet the view was and how pretty the room was decorated. As the two girls put their stuff away, Hinata moved on down the hallway.

"Tenten, I thought you would like to share a room with me, if that was all right," Hinata asked, opening the next room on the right.

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great, Hinata," Tenten replied, going into the room. She was left to her own devices as Hinata led the boys down the hall and turned left. The first door on the right, Hinata proceeded to open it.

"Naruto, Sasuke, I figured you two would like to room together," Hinata said, stepping aside so they could enter the room.

"Do you want this villa to crash and burn?" Sasuke asked, picturing how the two weeks would go if he was sharing a room with Naruto.

"Come on, it's not going to be that bad. As long as you're not such a bastard, things should go fine," Naruto said, grinning mischievously at Sasuke. Sasuke scowled at him. They both stepped inside the room, Naruto murmuring how cool the room was. Hinata blushed a little and bowed out of the room to go show Shikamaru to his room that he most likely shared with Neji.

Sasuke left the door open and looked around the room. There were two neatly made beds three feet apart from each other with a nightstand in between them. To the right of one bed there was a door that Sasuke assumed was a closet. On the left wall of the room were two dark wood dressers with a mirror above both of them. The floors were hard wood with a few light colored rugs placed here and there.

Naruto claimed the bed closer the bay window that all the rooms seemed to have. He put his suitcase and travel bag on the bed and then stepped up and flung the curtains apart. The sudden bright sunlight made Sasuke blink several times before his eyes adjusted the sunlight reflecting off the hard wood floor.

"Aw, we don't get an ocean view," Naruto said, as he stared out at the tree tops. Sasuke stepped up to the window beside Naruto and almost forgot that they were on a hill and could see the tops of the trees as the sun was lowering in the sky.

"Well this way, you won't have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night if you hear the ocean," Sasuke said, his lips tugging at the corners in a grin.

"Whatever, I just drank too much pop that night before I went to bed," Naruto retorted, crossing his arms. His head tilted to the side. "But, it's not really a bad view."

Sasuke nodded. He agreed. Being up high enough to see the tree tops made the view beautiful. As Naruto and Sasuke looked out, Sasuke noticed a little break in the trees. He stepped closer to the window, trying to figure out what the break was. A meadow, a piece of farm land?

"Does that break in the trees to the left look like a town to you?" Sasuke said, pointing so Naruto could have a reference point. But before Naruto could give an answer, Sasuke got one from Neji.

"Yes, there is a town in the break of the trees. A small one, but they throw amazing summer festivals," he said from behind them. Naruto and Sasuke turned to see Neji in their doorway with a tray of drinks. Neji came forward and set the tray down on the first dresser and walked up next to Naruto at the window. "If you had binoculars, you'd probably be able to see some festival decorations."

"They're holding a festival?" Naruto asked excitedly, turning to Neji.

"Not tonight, but the day after tomorrow will be the beginning of their three day festival. I take it that you wish to attend?" Neji asked.

"Hell yeah, I wish to attend. I haven't been to a festival since I was a kid," Naruto said, smiling.

"There's a festival?" Ino said, coming the room. Sakura followed after her. Sasuke stood up a little straighter. _Crap, my bag's open, what was on the top?_ Sasuke stopped his line of thought. What did it matter, since when did he become so self conscious around a person of the opposite sex? _What if it's just Sakura that I'm self conscious around?_ Sasuke stopped his line of thought again and looked away from her, when he even started to look at her, he didn't know. As he focused on the conversation, he realized it was being repeated as Shikamaru, Hinata, and Tenten walked in the room.

It was unanimously agreed that everyone would go to the festival the day after tomorrow. As the Hyuuga's explained the festival to the others, they grabbed a condensating drink off the tray that Neji had set down and started to casually lean or sit around the room. Sakura sat on the edge of Sasuke's bed and Sasuke demanded that his nerves calm down. However, he couldn't control them, much to his annoyance.

After much talking, the group decided to not waste the day. They put on their swimsuits and met on the beach. When Sasuke heard that they had their own private beach, he had thought they meant a section of it. However, as he soon realized, Neji really did mean their own private beach. The beach stretched on for a good mile and no one was on it, even though the day was a beautiful one. Hinata explained that the beach was their's as everyone around this area considered it off limits.

Sasuke shrugged off his surprised and tried to make sure that Naruto didn't kill himself while running into the ocean. The water was cool and Ino and Tenten found some blow up balls and threw them in the ocean. Soon everyone was being splashed or hitting the balls in each other faces while trying to avoid the water going up their nose. Sasuke, for the most part, managed to keep most of the water out of his nose. The day wore on and the sun was starting to turn the sky orange and red, so one by one, they got out of the water and landed on the towels that were heated from the sun's warmth.

Sasuke crashed face first on his towel and laid down while listening to the conversations buzzing around him. He heard everyone's voice except one. Opening one eye and looking up, he saw Sakura's mouth hanging slightly open with her fingers to her bottom lip. Sasuke sat up, confused and partially concerned. _Why is she looking at me like that?_

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. Sakura's head whipped up to his face as he sat cross legged on his towel to talk to her. Her hair looked a little orange in the setting sun, Sasuke noticed. Damn it, why was he noticing?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," Sakura apologized, pulling her hand from her mouth and fisting it in her lap along with her other hand.

"Stare at what?" Sasuke asked, having no idea what she was even talking about at this point.

"At your…um…scars," Sakura whispered the last word and looked away from him. Sasuke closed his eyes. He had almost forgotten about the two scars that were on his back, compliments from his father. He almost forgot the scar on his left palm, compliments of himself. However, she hadn't noticed that scar. Not many people did. Sasuke opened his eyes.

"It's okay. I don't care if you look at them," Sasuke said like it was no big deal, even though it had been a big deal at the time the scars were given. The two scars were healing when he met her, the first time. Sasuke dragged himself out of the past enough to listen to her reply.

"Oh. So, they don't hurt anymore?" Sakura asked, looking back at him. Her compassion was amazing him. She was compassionate at eight, and she still was compassionate at seventeen.

"No. I don't really know they're there anymore," Sasuke told her. He saw her swallow hard. He knew what she wanted to know, she was too nice to ask him for the answer.

"It wasn't tragic, if that's what you're thinking. I fell threw a glass window," Sasuke told her, hoping she wouldn't make that big a deal out of it. Sasuke could at least revel in the fact that he was partially telling her the truth. The only omission was that his father pushed him through said glass window.

"When did it happen to you?" she asked, keeping eye contact with him. Sasuke laid back down on his side, facing her.

"I was eight. It was a long time ago, don't feel bad," Sasuke said, looking up. The sun was setting even more now, it was starting to go below the ocean's horizon, so Sakura was bathed in dying light.

"But you must have been in a lot of pain," Sakura said. Somehow during the conversation, she had gotten closer to him and was putting her weight on her elbow. Her concerned expression was still on her face. Sasuke had the sudden urge to touch her face but held himself back as he remember the day he was given the scars.

"It's fine. Like I said, long time ago," Sasuke told her. He clenched his left hand into a fist trying to keep the memories at bay. He didn't need to drown in them again. If he did, the only outcome would be anger. Pure, unadulterated anger that would have him seeing everything in red. It was a dangerous place to go. He knew, he had been there.

"Hey, guys! Come on, we're going to go order pizza and watch some horror movies. Let's go back in," Naruto shouted from the sliding door that led back into the villa. Sasuke stood up quickly. Sakura was a little bit more slow, or maybe he was just ready to change the subject. Sasuke offered her his right hand to help her up. She took it and brought her towel with her. The two of them strolled across the beach and back up into the house with no words passing in between them.

Sakura shut and locked the sliding door as Sasuke and the rest of the gang went to get changed. Hinata was in the kitchen ordering some pizza for everyone. Sakura looked up and saw the pink scars on Sasuke's broad back as he walked away from her. They didn't crisscross, like the cliché scars. One was down the right side of his back, and the other started at his left hip and went at a forty-five degree angle but stopped right before it hit his spine.

Hinata came out of the kitchen as Sakura leaned up against the glass, staring at the place were Sasuke disappeared around a corner. Sakura wondered how a glass window could give someone cuts like the ones on Sasuke.

"The pizzas will be here in forty-five minutes," Hinata said smiling as she walked out. Sakura didn't stop looking at that place where Sasuke disappeared.

"Okay, that's cool. I'll go get changed," Sakura said. She didn't want to be rude to her hostess, but Sakura's head was going a million miles an hour as she walked to the room she shared with Ino. The door opened before Sakura could touch the door knob and Ino came out as Sakura went in. She was too deep in thought to go for a long conversation, so she passed Ino and shut the door again.

Sakura went through the motions of changing as she thought. She had been cut by glass, but it hadn't given her that big of a cut. Those scars looked like they were delivered from a knife, or some kind of edged weapon. But why did Sakura think Sasuke was lying? So what if he was? It wasn't her business. She shouldn't have been staring in the first place. She just couldn't help but think of Sasuke Uchiha as she looked at the scars on Sasuke Aoshi.

Sakura gritted her teeth. She just couldn't not stop thinking about Sasuke Uchiha. Although, it didn't help that she had been staring at his look alike nearly all day. It was a wonder he hadn't caught her looking at him. She had been catching glimpses of him all day. He was just too good-looking not to look at. And every time she looked at him or talked to him, it felt like she had been friends with him for longer than three weeks since they had met.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake that she knew him. She also tried to shake the attraction that she was feeling for him. Every time he touched her, she grew hot where he touched. It felt like her body was starting to ignite. She honestly thought she might have spontaneously combusted when he caught her on the hill earlier that day. There was just something about him that had her ticking like a time bomb and ready to explode.

Sakura took out clothes from her bag and something fell out. She quickly put on the pants and tank top and picked up the little jewelry box and opened the false bottom out of habit. Sliding out the aged picture she looked at the scowling little boy and guilt soared through her yet again. _If only I said something…if only I'd done something…_ But it was too late now. She had to move on. Every time she looked at his picture, she knew she had to move on. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't take a lighter to his picture, not now.

A knock on her door woke her from her thoughts. She put the picture back in the false bottom. "Come in. It's open." Naruto poked his head inside the door.

"Hey, we're about to start the horror movie marathon, come on, Sakura," Naruto said, grinning.

Sakura smiled. Naruto always could cheer her up. The past three weeks had felt like they'd never really been separated for six years. Naruto stepped fully into the room and stopped on the other side of the bed. He nodded to the jewelry box…that still had the false bottom out.

"What's that?" Naruto asked. Sakura looked down, her heart racing. She'd never shown that picture to anyone. She didn't really want to start now, no matter how much Naruto meant to her.

"It's nothing, Naruto," Sakura said, smiling and snapping the bottom closed. Apparently it wasn't a good enough smile, because Naruto stopped grinning and looked at her seriously.

"It's him, isn't it? The Uchiha kid?" Naruto inquired. Sakura tried to smile again. It must have came out as a grimace.

"Yeah, it is. I forgot that his picture was in my jewelry box or I would have left it at home," Sakura said, putting it back in her bag and putting the bag on the floor. When she came up again, Naruto had crossed the bed and was giving her a tug on the arm with a comforting smile.

"It's cool. Let's go scare the crap out of you with movies," Naruto said. Sakura laughed and let him lead her to the living room, where their group took up the couches and sofas that surrounded the TV. The movie had already started when Naruto sat beside Sasuke and Sakura sat beside Naruto.

* * *

**A/N: It took a while, but it's here. I have a few shows I have to do next week so I thought I should get this up this weekend before I'm totally swamped. I'm sorry that this took forever, but I didn't want to bust something out really fast and have it be crap, so it just took a little bit longer. **


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